A few days before Christmas 2019, 30 children arrived into Dublin Airport from Chernobyl for the holiday season. Among the Irish host families that day was Trina Rooney, there to collect Marina who was coming to stay for her seventh Christmas.
Since 1991, when Adi Roche set up the charity, Chernobyl Children International, 26,500 children have been hosted by Irish families.
Marina, like many of the children, has lived in the Vesnova orphanage in Belarus all her life. The 18-year-old has cerebral palsy.
The Covid-19 pandemic means this year is the second Christmas in a row that Marina won't be coming to Ireland. Trina is devastated, saying that last year was bad enough but that she never thought there would be another year they would have to