Orphan leaves a ‘living hell’

A 10-MONTH-OLD orphan from Kazakhstan who was rescued from a “living hell on earth” arrived in Ireland yesterday for a life-saving operation.

Baby Aiman Kopkeava, abandoned at birth and who has a huge tumour at the base of her spine, was welcomed to Cork Airport by her foster parents, Margaret and Jack Kenneally from Cork Street, Kinsale, amid scenes of great emotion.

Holding back tears of joy and cradling Aiman in her arms, Margaret, said: “It’s wonderful holding her. She’s beautiful, absolutely beautiful. I didn’t expect I would be like this. I’m not normally this emotional, not like this.”

Little Aiman, a gorgeous little girl with big brown eyes, is here on a medical visa. Her critical operation will cost €10,000.

“We hope the procedure can be carried out here soon. It’s absolutely critical for Aiman’s future,” said Fiona Corcoran, director of the Greater Chernobyl Cause (GCC), the charity that brought Aiman into the country on a medical visa.

Aiman was discovered by Fiona in Semipalatinsk Baby Home in Kazakhstan.

Without surgery, she would have been sent to the Ayagus orphanage in Kazakhstan, destined to waste away in a facility described by Fiona as “a living hell on earth”.

She has issued an appeal for people to donate money to help fund Aiman’s operation.

Mr Kenneally said he and his wife were moved to foster Aiman after reading an article in the Irish Examiner about the plight of the people of Kazakhstan. “We got to the stage where our own kids had grown up. At this stage, our youngest daughter Niamh is in Australia and we felt there was a vacuum and we felt we had something to offer to another child and that another child would have an awful lot to offer to us. And having seen photographs of children in the orphanages in Kazakhstan, we felt we had to do something,” he said.

Semipalatinsk, a region in the north of the country, was the USSR’s nuclear weapons testing ground until 1991. “The effects of nuclear testing on the people of Kazakhstan is one of the world’s forgotten tragedies,” Ms Corcoran said.

She has no doubt Aiman’s tumour is as a direct result of this testing.

Ms Corcoran and fellow GCC worker Barbara Deasy have spent the last 10 days visiting several orphanages and medical centres delivering humanitarian aid throughout Semipalatinsk. They said they were shocked by the sights there.

“Although those caring for the children are trying their best, it is difficult to nourish babies adequately on the equivalent of 50c per day. It is a constant struggle to keep buildings warm and launder clothes and bedding in temperatures of -35C. “It was horrifying to stand by and watch babies with hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain) struggling for breath and be powerless to help when told these babies are dying,” Ms Corcoran said.

But yesterday, they were confident about Aiman’s future. The bright and bubbly child looked alert and happy, surrounded by members of her foster family.

She will be introduced to her extended family over the next few days, and allowed time to get used to her new surrounds, the Kenneallys said. Her foster grandfather, Pat, looked on proudly yesterday. “Now I have 19 grandchildren. Please God, over the next few months we’ll see her improve. She’s a beautiful child,” he said.

The Greater Chernobyl Cause can be contacted at Abbey House, 4 North Abbey Street, North Mall, Cork (021-4300791).