SEQUIM — The young woman arrived in Sequim unable to express herself.
Today, she gushes about the people closest to her, and tells a story worthy of a movie script.
Natasha Merrikin, 20, is among the 200 Sequim High School students graduating tonight during a ceremony at 8 p.m. in the high school gym, 601 N Sequim Ave.
After four years here, the native of Minsk, Belarus in the former Soviet Union, has learned to speak English, write research papers and do the rest of the work required for a diploma.
She doesn’t talk about any of that, though.
Instead, Merrikin explains how she learned about love.
For the first 15 years of her life, Merrikin lived in an orphanage in Belarus, and like many of the other children there, she suffered from health problems, including an eye disorder.
The children’s ailments are believed to be related to the April 26, 1986, explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The unparalleled disaster rained an estimated 50 to 90 tons of radioactive waste into the air over Ukraine and neighboring parts of Russia and Belarus; 22 years later, some 5 million people live on still-contaminated land.
At orphanages such as the one where Merrikin grew up, age 16 is like 18 for U.S. foster children: The youths are considered too old to stay, and so go out on their own.
As Merrikin’s 16th birthday neared, orphanage officials began a search for an adoptive family, and eventually connected with the Global Family Alliance, an organization that seeks to help Belarusian children affected by Chernobyl.
