RFK Award for radio-- "...it's me, Vanya." Alabama Public Radio
“I had no idea, back then, what it would mean twenty years later,” said Susan Lee of Pelham, Alabama.
Lee’s story, and that of a nine year boy from the former Soviet nation of Belarus, are at the heart of Alabama Public Radio’s entry for the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Radio, titled “…it’s me, Vanya.”
Please click here to listen to the program.
https://www.apr.org/news/2021-04-26/its-me-vanya
The three member Alabama Public Radio news team spent two years working with the University of Alabama’s Center for Public Television to produce this program. It focuses on the still unfolding story of the “Children of Chernobyl” program in Alabama. In 1999 and 2000, families in Alabama hosted youngsters impacted by radiation from the 1986 nuclear plant disaster in the Soviet nation of Ukraine.
The results are being felt to this day.
Our program pairs contemporary interviews, conducted in the U.S. and in the former Soviet nation of Belarus, with twenty year old audio that was recorded to preserve the Alabama program. This enabled our listeners to relive this piece of history from an insiders’ perspective.
The Lee family took in nine year old Ivan Kovaliou in the year 2000. At that time, he went by the childhood nickname of “Vanya.” After a forty day stay, he returned to Belarus, and the Lee’s lost contact in 2004. That changed eight years later with a note on Facebook messenger from a Belarusian college student.
“It’s me, Vanya,” it said.
APR and the University of Alabama’s Center for Public Television CPT were there as the Lee family and Ivan were reunited at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International airport, almost twenty years after his time in Alabama.
We balanced the views of the Belarusian people along with the “children of Chernobyl” organizers by seeking out the mother/daughter translation team of Vita Lutsko and Larisa Shapavalenko. Not only did they work with the host parents, but Shapavelenko raised Vita in the shadow of Chernobyl. Both currently live in Belarus, so we arranged for a video producer in Minsk to conduct the interviews.
Lee’s story, and that of a nine year boy from the former Soviet nation of Belarus, are at the heart of Alabama Public Radio’s entry for the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Radio, titled “…it’s me, Vanya.”
Please click here to listen to the program.
https://www.apr.org/news/2021-04-26/its-me-vanya
The three member Alabama Public Radio news team spent two years working with the University of Alabama’s Center for Public Television to produce this program. It focuses on the still unfolding story of the “Children of Chernobyl” program in Alabama. In 1999 and 2000, families in Alabama hosted youngsters impacted by radiation from the 1986 nuclear plant disaster in the Soviet nation of Ukraine.
The results are being felt to this day.
Our program pairs contemporary interviews, conducted in the U.S. and in the former Soviet nation of Belarus, with twenty year old audio that was recorded to preserve the Alabama program. This enabled our listeners to relive this piece of history from an insiders’ perspective.
The Lee family took in nine year old Ivan Kovaliou in the year 2000. At that time, he went by the childhood nickname of “Vanya.” After a forty day stay, he returned to Belarus, and the Lee’s lost contact in 2004. That changed eight years later with a note on Facebook messenger from a Belarusian college student.
“It’s me, Vanya,” it said.
APR and the University of Alabama’s Center for Public Television CPT were there as the Lee family and Ivan were reunited at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International airport, almost twenty years after his time in Alabama.
We balanced the views of the Belarusian people along with the “children of Chernobyl” organizers by seeking out the mother/daughter translation team of Vita Lutsko and Larisa Shapavalenko. Not only did they work with the host parents, but Shapavelenko raised Vita in the shadow of Chernobyl. Both currently live in Belarus, so we arranged for a video producer in Minsk to conduct the interviews.
Pat Duggins