Verses
by Joseph Sywenkyj
This page
Anya lives in a village in Rivne that received
high amounts of radiation from the Chornobyl disaster. There has been a rise
in ocular birth defects in the region attributed to Chornobyl. Rivne,
“And
soon there will be six,” Sasha said over tea on a chilly winter day in
Odessa, Ukraine in 2003. He was referring to the child that would be born six
months later to his wife Ira. Sasha and Ira are both HIV-positive. They then
went on to express their concerns about bringing another sick child into the
world and explained they do not use condoms because of their religious beliefs.
Several months after their sixth child, Genic, was born Ira was again pregnant.
They now have seven children ranging in age from 1 to 17 years. Their 5 year-old
daughter, Masha, is HIV-positive and in another few months they should know
if the virus has been passed on to their one year-old son Zhenia.
