'I'm living proof that kindness changes lives'

Krystina Nikityonik turned 26 last Friday.

She works as a social media content creator in her native Belarus.

Today, Krystina was among the speakers at an event in Cork city where a sculpture will be unveiled to mark the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.

Last year, the UN ratified the spelling of the region as the Ukrainian 'Chornobyl' instead of the Soviet-era and Russian ‘Chernobyl’.

Krystina gave a personal account of what it was like to have been born with severe disabilities in the aftermath of the Chornobyl disaster, as well as growing up in what she describes as an asylum, before she was brought to Ireland by Chernobyl Children International.

"I was born into suffering caused by Chornobyl - not only the radiation, but the poverty and the silence that followed," Krystina said.

"Because of the damage left behind, I was born with disabilities.

And because of those disabilities, I was abandoned - hidden away as if my life had no value.

"I grew up in an institution near Chornobyl where love did not exist.

I was neglected.

I was punished.

I was left alone in darkness for hours at a time.

I learned very early that crying did not bring comfort …it brought consequences.

I was unloved.

"For a long time, my world was dark, cold, and painfully lonely.

I don't remember toys, warmth, or comfort.

I remember hunger.

I remember fear.

I remember loneliness.

I remember the terrible smells.

I remember being terrified of wetting myself and being punished for it.

"I remember being forced to sit on the floor, eating food off cold concrete like an animal.

No one helped me.

No one told me I mattered.

Only now, as a free person, do I understand that I was not living - I was simply surviving."
Krystina says everything changed when Adi Roche and volunteers from Chernobyl Children International arrived at the institution where she was being raised.

"For the first time, someone truly saw me.

Not as a burden.

Not as a disability.

But as a child," Krystina says.

"Chernobyl Children International rescued me - not just from a building, but from a future that held only suffering.

They brought me to Ireland and gave me the life-saving surgeries, including a leg amputation that ended years of unbearable pain and gave me freedom for the first time in my life.

They surrounded me with love.

"In Ireland, I experienced happy summers and joyful Christmases with Irish families, even though in Belarus, I was still seen as a problem because of my disabilities.

"Chernobyl Children International did not only heal my body.

They fought for my right to live a life where my human rights were respected.

They treated me as a human being.

They gave me love, dignity, a voice.

"Because of them, my story did not end in abandonment.

First, Chernobyl Children International found me a foster family so I could leave the institution.

Later, they reunited me with my biological family.

When I learned the truth, I was one of the happiest people in the world.

The dream I had carried in my heart for so many years had finally come true.

"Today, I live a life filled with love, independence, and purpose.

I am self-employed.

I am happy.

I am alive in every sense of the word."
Krystina says she still has concerns, because Chornobyl is not over.

"Children are still being born and abandoned in the affected regions today and I fear for them, because I know exactly what that darkness feels like.

"If Chernobyl Children International had not come for me, I do not know if I would be here today.

"I am living proof that hope and love works, that kindness changes lives.

"Chornobyl happened 40 years ago, but its consequences will last lifetimes.