Brave teen wants the world to remember Chernobyl
The courageous 14-year-old, abandoned by her parents when she was born, is anxious children like her — still suffering from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 21 years after the horrific event — will not be forgotten.
Yesterday, Raisa was one of 21 pupils from St Mary’s National School in Trim, Co Meath, who travelled to Dublin to help the Chernobyl Children’s Project International remind people that at 1.23am on April 26, 1986, the worst environmental disaster known to mankind took place in Chernobyl.
And far from being history, the accident continues to affect millions, especially children in Belarus, Ukraine and western Russia.
Raisa lived in the Number 3 Orphanage in Minsk and the Irish charity arranged for her to travel to Ireland for medical treatment, rest and recuperation.
On each occasion, she spent time with Ann Carolan, a mother-of-five in Trim, who eventually succeeded in adopting her.
Asked what kind of memories she had of her time in the orphanage in Minsk, Raisa replied: “Mostly bad ones. I would not have any good ones. It was not the right place for me.”
And Raisa, who had her left leg removed two years ago, was yesterday described by her sixth class teacher, Mr Kevin Higgins, as the most courageous pupil he had taught.
Asked how she coped, Raisa, a sports enthusiast who excels at camogie, said she often hurt a lot because of the health complications that she still suffers, but always manages, as she put it, to get up and keep running.
Principal of the school, Cóilin O Coigligh, said Raisa always had a smile on her face no matter how she felt.
“She is an inspiration to us all,” he said.
Ms Carolan said she decided to adopt Raisa so that she would get the medical treatment she needed.
“The whole family adore her and she is doing very well now,” she said.
Founder of the Chernobyl Children’s Project, Adi Roche, said Raisa’s quality of life would be very poor if she was still living in Belarus.
Ms Roche, who recently returned from one of her numerous trips to Chernobyl, said she felt a deep sense of emptiness because many of the children she met while there were dying.
“I was in one of the places Raisa would have been put, a children’s mental asylum, which seem alien to us,” she pointed out.
Ms Roche said the charity had furthered its ambition to shut down the orphanages in Belarus and move children into a loving foster environment.
“This year we will have purchased 15 new Homes of Hope. Fifteen is the equivalent of one orphanage shut down forever,” she said.
The charity is also about to launch their new Sponsor a Child campaign after identifying children who are in need of special support in their medical and education programmes.
And Ms Roche pointed out that their new Aid Direct programme had replaced their traditional convoys and that this year the project would be spending over €300,000 buying aid sourced in Belarus and delivered in-country.
Bono’s wife Ali Hewson said Irish people had to be reminded of the work that still needed to be done. “When it comes to a nuclear disaster, there is no escaping it if you live in the vicinity,” she said.
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