LAST NIGHT, RTÉ 2 aired Finding Banni, a documentary about an Irish man’s attempts to reconnect with the little boy his family tried to adopt from Belarus in 2001.
Banni was a six-year-old boy with disabilities from Belarus. He came to stay with the Flynn family in Co. Clare in 2001 and quickly developed under the family’s guidance. The family soon decided to adopt Banni and were cleared to do so on the Irish side.
Unfortunately, the adoption was later blocked with no explanation and Banni was forced to return to an orphanage in Belarus.
And last night, we saw Colm Flynn return to Belarus to meet Banni for the first time in fifteen years.
Unfortunately, Flynn noted that Banni was now quiet and frail, a far cry from the little boy he met all those years ago.
It’s like he’s gone backwards from when he was living with us in Ireland. Back to the way he was when he first arrived to live with us – quiet, nervous and scared.
Viewers took to Twitter to praise Flynn for the moving documentary and to express heartbreak at what has become of Banni.
It served as a stark reminder of how lucky many of us are.
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Hannah Carroll / Twitter
Hannah Carroll / Twitter / Twitter
Even Dustin was touched by it.
People were full of praise for Brother Liam O’Meara, the founder of the Burren Chernobyl Project, which brings orphans affected by Chernobyl to Ireland every year
A powerful watch by all accounts.
