BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

23/07/2007

Belarussian kids get 6 weeks of sanctuary Summertime visits enrich Ann Arbor family

BY JO COLLINS MATHIS
News Staff Reporter

After six weeks in Ann Arbor, Yuliya Ihnatovich will fly home to Belarus on Tuesday with more than wonderful memories, a cute new wardrobe, and gifts for her family.

She may have also added months to her life.

Yuliya lives in Belarus, a former Soviet republic that received about 70 percent of the radiation damage from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, the worst nuclear accident in history. The explosion, which released 100 times the amount of radiation released by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, affected the immune systems of people living in the area, resulting in thyroid disease and thyroid cancer, an increase in leukemia cases and birth defects, and vitamin deficiencies.

The American Belarussian Relief Organization gives children in contaminated areas temporary sanctuary for six weeks every summer in American homes. The children receive medical, dental, and eye exams while they're here, as well as a chance for their bodies to rest from the stress of living in a contaminated environment.

Katie Paige, 11, read a story in American Girl magazine a few years ago about the program and asked her parents, Pat and Nancy, if they could sponsor a child. They readily agreed.

This is Yuliya's third summer with the Paiges in Ann Arbor. Yuliya's and Katie's birthdays are just eight days apart. Katie and her sister Emily, 9, share a room with Yuliya when she visits.

Asked if she was homesick, Yuliya quickly responded: Nyet!

Little wonder.

Yuliya's situation with the Paige family couldn't get much sweeter. The Paiges live in the former home of the Nichols family for whom the Arb is named. It's just a stroll from downtown and overlooks the arboretum in back. The Paiges have taken Yuliya to New York City, Cape Cod, Mackinac Island and the Michigan's Adventure amusement park, as well as bowling, swimming and shopping. Yuliya calls Nancy Paige "Mom,'' and says most of all, she enjoys hanging out at home with the family. Everyone cries when she leaves.

While some Belarus children have obvious birth defects or thyroid cancer, Yuliya is healthy. But her family lacks the resources to move out of the area. Last year, Nancy Paige bought Yuliya a pair of size 7 shoes at Target. She got off the airplane six weeks ago wearing the same shoes. She's since bought her a new pair, size 9.

Yuliya is one of three Belarussian children who've lived in Ann Arbor this summer. Another, Maryna Semianenka, has stayed in Brighton. Maryna's sister has lived with a family in North Carolina. On a recent visit to the dentist it was discovered that she might have cancer. The lab tests are pending.

Translator Viktoriya Baranova, who has divided her time between the family in Brighton and the Paiges' home, said that for every six weeks a child is here, ABRO estimates their lives may be prolonged a year. She said families don't leave the Chernobyl area because of the expense and uncertainty involved.

Through Baranova's Russian-to-English translation, Yuliya explained that she lives on a farm in a small village, takes a school bus an hour one way to school and helps with the animals.

Will she be sad when she goes home?

"I will be crying,'' she said in Russian.

But she takes solace in knowing she'll be back again next summer.

Nancy Paige hopes more families will open their homes so more of Chernobyl's children can have respite here.

"It's made our lives so much fuller,'' she said. "It's the best thing we could ever do with our summer. And now I feel I have another daughter.''

For information on ABRO's summer program, go to www.abro.org or e-mail Nancy Paige at paiges4@hotmail.com.

Jo Mathis can be reached at 734-994-6849 or jmathis@annarbornews.com.

Source:

http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1185203422246810.xml&coll=2