Welcome home Igor

A TEENAGE boy whose life has been devastated by the fallout of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster has returned to Castlebar to spend a magical Christmas with his loving host family.

Igor Shadkov (17) flew into Dublin Airport on Tuesday with a 40-strong group of Chernobyl children who will spend the festive season with their loving Irish host families.

The children, who have varying levels of disabilities and illnesses, will stay for over two weeks' rest and recuperation thanks to Adi Roche’s Chernobyl Children International (CCI) charity, which has brought more than 25,500 children to Ireland to stay with host families since 1991.

For the charity’s founder and voluntary CEO, their arrival signals the real beginning of Christmas. “For many of these children, nothing as magical as this will ever have happened in their lives. This is the true meaning of Christmas – it’s about family and sharing. The positive impact these stays have on the children is a testament to three generations of truly remarkable Irish volunteers,” said Adi.

Igor, who has a range of physical and developmental disabilities, lives in rural Belarus in an isolated children’s institution known as Vesnova. He was abandoned as an infant and has been incarcerated and segregated for his entire life, except for when he visits Ireland on the CCI pioneered health-boosting stays.

He's become a very familiar figure here in Mayo, where he stays with the Cox family from Castlebar. Said ‘Mama Marie’: “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.”