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‘Chornobyl Child’ Causes International Stir By Refusing To Return to BelarusAfter spending the better part of nine summers with her Californian host family, Tanya Kazyra has decided against returning to her native Belarus.The 16-year-old "child of Chornobyl" says she wants to stay permanently with Debra and Manuel Zapata and their three children, whom she calls "my real family." But Tanya's decision is having a global impact -- infuriating officials in Minsk, leading to rifts in diplomatic circles, and threatening the efforts of international organizations intended to reach out to children living in the shadow of the Soviet-era nuclear disaster. Belarusian officials responded to Tanya's refusal to return home by banning foreign exchanges of children affected by the 1986 explosion at Chornobyl. Minsk said it would not allow children to travel to Western countries without guarantees that all will return home. According to Roche, some 50,000 children from areas in the Chornobyl zone travel annually to the United States and EU countries, including France, Spain, Portugal, and Britain. In the United States alone, where the CCPI has an affiliate office in New York, some 1,400 children make the trip every year to spend time with American host families. ... Tanya's nine summers in California with the Zapata family were organized by the Petaluma-based Chernobyl Children's Project. The organization is part of the Children of Chernobyl, United States Alliance, which groups a number of U.S. humanitarian organizations working with children affected by the disaster. Prior to Minsk's decision to impose the controversial ban, a high-ranking Belarusian official reportedly met with Tanya and the Zapatas on three occasions in an attempt to persuade the girl to return home. Tanya failed to change her mind, however, and the Zapatas instead hired a lawyer to secure a student visa that would enable Tanya to continue her education in the United States. According to the lawyer, Tanya's current tourist visa expires on December 5. The girl herself has said she comes from a troubled background and that her legal guardian, her grandmother, has given her blessing for her stay in the United States. Source: RFE/RL, Sept. 14, 2008 This article appeared in Belarusian Review, Vol. 20, No. 3 --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2008 Belarusian Review All rights reserved. belarusianreview@hotmailcom Farangis Najibullah (excerpts from an article)
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