Chernobyl Evacuees Re-Visit Former Home

A plant worker walks by construction site in Chernobyl, (VOA - D. Markosian, April 2011)

Twenty-five-year-old Ivanna was just 6 months old when Reactor Number Four exploded at Chernobyl, and Pripyat - founded in 1970 to house workers for the plant - was evacuated. Over the years, she heard many stories from her parents about the city where she was born.

"I wanted to go there," she said. "I was drawn to that place. I would ask my mother - ‘Mama, when can we finally go?’”

At the time of the Chernobyl disaster, Ivanna’s older brother Yevhen was seven years old. "My childhood was very happy there, in Pripyat. Then came the constant moves, visits to clinics," he said.

The Makarevych family now lives on the outskirts of the capital. Kyiv. But mother Nadiya, who worked as a medical assistant in Pripyat ,and father Vasyl, who made cement blocks at the plant, still cannot forget the town where they were so happy.

It was paradise on earth. We had a river nearby, woods nearby, multitudes of children all around, all young. There were many flowers. It was so beautiful," she said.

This former paradise is now known as the Exclusion Zone. Scattered throughout the area, the family finds checkpoints, barbed wire and stations that measure radiation levels.

To get to their apartment, the Makarevych family needs a special pass. They will also need to overcome quite a few physical obstacles.