Igor is coming ‘home’ to his Mayo family

IGOR Shadshov and his wonderful personality charms all those who meet him.

This Friday (June 23) Igor will leave Venova Children’s Institution for four weeks to join his loving host family in Castlebar, the Coxs, ‘Mama Marie’ and ‘Papa Dermot’, who consider him as one of the family.

Igor is part of a group of 135 children and young adults, all of them with serious illnesses and disabilities, who are being brought to Ireland by Adi Roche’s Chernobyl Children International (CCI). They will arrive at Shannon Airport on Friday and will meet their host families, who come from 13 counties across the country.

Igor is just one of thousands of children who were abandoned to bleak institutions as babies.

When CCI first found Igor, the conditions in which he lived where inhumane. His communications skills were almost non-existent and he was prone to biting, scratching and spitting. Igor has lived with huge physical impairment all his life.

Through CCI’s intervention, Igor was at last able to receive the love, care and attention he so desperately needed and deserved. A wheelchair specially adapted to Igor’s needs has given him mobility and freedom.

Igor comes to Ireland twice a year as part of CCI’s rest and recuperation programme into a family that love and adore him.

Over the years he has developed into a happy boy with vastly improved communication skills. Igor and all the other children of the rest and recuperation programme benefit greatly from a clean environment, healthy food and loving host families.

Speaking of Igor’s development, ‘Mama Marie’ said: “For us, it is important that Igor has access to new experiences that he isn't able to achieve when in the orphanage. But it’s evident that the most important thing for him is just to be a loved member of the family and to connect with the family, which is something he doesn't have. There is a real sense of belonging when he is here.”

The rest and recuperation programme gives the children, who come from impoverished backgrounds and state-run institutions, a health-boosting reprieve from the toxic environment and high levels of radiation to which they are exposed.

Since 1991, over 25,500 children from Belarus and Western Russia have come to Ireland through Adi Roche’s charity on this programme.