TOGETHER, WE ACT: UKRAINIAN STORIES
From Tidy Towns volunteers and choir singers to integration specialists and translators, Ukrainian refugees are getting involved with their new communities across Ireland. Discover their inspiring stories through this We Act and Irish Red Cross collaboration.​​
"We've received so much help and support. It's really important to me that we give something back."
Iryna, Gort
Meet Iryna
When the conflict in Ukraine started, Iryna and her daughter had to flee from their home. Today, she is an active member of her community in Gort, South Galway. This is her story...
"We feel like we should do something for Ireland, because Ireland was so kind and so welcoming."
Artem, Galway
Meet Artem
Two years ago, Artem and his family were forced to flee their home in Bucha, Ukraine. Artem now organises beach clean-ups in Galway with the Ukrainian community. This is his story...
Meet Serhii...
Serhii Korobtsov is an Integration Support Worker with Doras, a human rights organisation in Limerick that promotes and protects the rights of migrants in Ireland.
"I was ready to work when I arrived in Ireland. I was staying in a tent in Dublin, but the conditions were great and I knew it was temporary. I tried to put down roots and find work straight away, as a delivery driver or on a construction site, but within 10 days, I was moved to Limerick. It worked out for the best.
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I'm really proud and honoured to work with Doras. Having this opportunity to be useful and to use my skills, my knowledge, my enthusiasm, my experience, is great. Sometimes people think that Doras is my last name! They all know me as Serge Doras.
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I feel like I owe Ireland. Ireland has given me so much opportunity. I can work, I can pay taxes, I can rent my own place, I didn’t take social welfare from the beginning, I don’t want to have to take anything from anyone. Most of my time is devoted to volunteering not only for Ukrainians, for everyone to whom I can be useful. I really strive to be a good example of a useful member of my new community.
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When I came to Limerick, we were settled in the student accommodation. It's 80% mamas with kids, elderly people, disabled people. I have an English diploma, but I hadn’t used English in a few years. I was very shy, I doubted my skills, but I was ambitious. Every morning I was getting up with the feeling of, ‘What I have done for the benefit of my people?’.
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After two or three days, a very kind, very polite, Irish gentleman from Doras came to the accommodation. It was an emotional moment. There were a lot of people who were terrified, their husbands are fighting, maybe they’ve received bad news from home. We were all in a circle, hundreds of people, as he was addressing the crowd and it was loud! I thought that this is the moment, and I said sorry, ‘Sorry sir, but you probably need some help in translation, interpreting?”
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He told me his name was John Lannon. You don’t understand what that means I'm the biggest Beatles fan ever. It’s spelled a little different, but now I can say my CEO and my very good friend, is John Lannon!
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I started to help him in the accommodation centre. We made a list of immediate priorities. I helped Irish volunteers who opened a zero-cost shop, planned activities for the kids, I reviewed Ukrainian language booklets, Volunteering for a week, turned into a month. I was looking for work, but Doras said they needed me full time and offered me a job. I was very enthusiastic. And that enthusiasm hasn’t gone anywhere in two years.
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My coping mechanism is my work. My friends are fighting so I have to help. I don’t mean this to punish myself, it’s an honest feeling.
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Sometimes people who don't know my situation or are a little bit sceptical, can think, ‘Why is he not in Ukraine?’ I was lucky enough to be out of Ukraine just before the war so I had the option legally, to not to go back. I lost a money, property, a nice job. It was not an easy choice for me. But I had a choice and I used it. It doesn't excuse my survivor syndrome, the self-pity, the constant questioning of myself, but that’s my story.
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In the first year, I became a liaison person, it was a lot of gathering information for people. For a lot of people who arrived to Ireland, they thought it was temporary, they didn’t prepare themselves to stay. So now I'm trying to focus on integration projects and events. If there’s something going on with Ukrainian community in Limerick, I’m probably involved. I'm a member of a new Limerick Migrant Integration Forum. I’m a passionate volunteer. People will come to me and ask if I can help with different things. If I can’t, I’ll liaise with relevant agencies who can. I'm just trying to be as helpful as I can.
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My favourite thing about my job is the positive results, the fruits of it. A lady called me recently on a Friday afternoon, she’d be checked out of the hotel, she had two kids and nowhere to go. Thank God for the Irish Red Cross, within two hours they had found them a host family. It’s the positive moments like that.
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The work I do here is nothing compared what my fellows back in Ukraine are experiencing, but you help out the best you can."
Meet Olha...
Olha Khoroshevska is the Manager of the Ukraine Community Centre in Rathmines, Dublin, a space that was set up by the Irish Red Cross, in collaboration with Ukrainian Action in Ireland. Olha’s mission is to help Ukrainian people to integrate and contribute to Irish society.
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“Many, many women came here with no support, no husbands, no parents, no relatives. They are on their own, and they maybe have one or two kids. It's hard to be a mum 24/7 and they often forget how it is to be a grown-up, just a woman.
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I've been employed with the Irish Red Cross since May 2022. We set up the community centre as a place for Ukrainians to come, get information, help with integrating into our society, and to find friends. Now have about 47 volunteers, 90% of whom are Ukrainians under temporary protection themselves. We have visitors from three years old to maybe 94 years old!
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We have classes to help Ukrainians with language skills, we have art therapy, we have mental health support groups. We also run activities such as yoga, Pilates, dancing, to help Ukrainians to work with their mental health, if they are not ready to go into counselling, they can work it out through their body instead. We also have a kids’ choir and an adult choir and they are extremely popular these days.
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The Irish Red Cross have a programme called Svitlo (which means Light in Ukrainian) that provides community support, psychological help, informational support for Ukrainians.
We ran an amazing programme of mental health support with the Mind and Body Project. A therapist worked with Ukrainian women to help them through their trauma, and their grief. We see how ladies are shining and smiling, how they’ve changed their clothes to something more light and more colourful.
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I used to live in Ireland for about two years. When the war started, my friends here invited me to come back. We started a Telegram channel, which is a messaging app that Ukrainians use to communicate. We collected all the information about accommodation, the medical system, educational system, social welfare payments, language courses, how to find a job. That was how I got to know a group of other volunteers and we decided to create an organisation Ukrainian Action, to help Ukrainians to integrate into our society and to collect humanitarian aid for those staying in Ukraine.
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When we first set up the community centre, we found volunteers, we made a schedule and then visitors started offering their own knowledge to share as well. One woman could be visiting for English or yoga classes and then she would say, “Oh, I can do drawing classes for kids, or Irish dancing or gymnastics.” And so, we were growing and growing.
Connecting with other organisations, learning from our own mistakes. Now we have this nice, warm space in Rathmines, and we can provide classes and activities for Ukrainians to help them out, to start to look for a job, or to provide mentorship.
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There are 100,000 Ukrainians now in Ireland, and we do understand that, for such a small country, it's a very big number. We really want Ukrainians not to be separated from society, we want to give people the opportunity to restart their life here. Working, renting, just being a regular person in Ireland.
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The centre allows people to find new friends and connect. We schedule it in such a way that gives moms time for themselves. When Ukrainians left their own homes, it's like a tree, being cut from its roots. This place gives them the possibility to feel like they’re at home, to feel seen, to feel heard, to feel useful. It just helps them to remember that they are not only refugees, but they are professionals. They can do something, they can teach somebody, they can restart to be who they used to be before the war.”
Meet Ruslan...
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Ruslan is from Odessa, Ukraine. He volunteers as a bike mechanic with The Good Bike Project in Dublin. The project was set up by bike shop owner, Paul and with the help of Ruslan and other volunteers, they have refurbished and donated almost 3000 bikes for refugees in the last two years.
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“I remember getting my very first bike when I was 7. I wanted one so much, and I still remember the feeling of finally getting a bike. I was so happy. I think about that feeling when we’re fixing up these bikes to give to children who had to leave all their toys behind in Ukraine.
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When the war started, I was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I’m a seaman. My family came here to Ireland. And when I spoke to my mom just after she arrived, she told me she’d already received a bike. I asked, ‘how is that possible you’re just there one week?’. And she told me ‘There is a good guy, his name is Paul, and he gave it to us.’ I just thought it was so cool.
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In the past, I used to race bikes and assemble bikes. So, when I had a few weeks off, and I came to Dublin to meet my mom and brother, I went to Paul and asked him if I could help with the bikes and he said, ‘Ok, see you Monday’.
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I was helping him for a month last year, then went back to work at sea for six months, and now while I’m back again, I’m here to help.
Every day, we send bikes around Ireland, we have DPD helping with deliveries. When people receive the bikes, they’re emotional. Good emotions! Everyone who receives them is so thankful and happy. It means they can cycle to school or to work, if people are living in rural villages. Everyone who gets a bike gets a helmet too – safety first!
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People send us photos with their bikes, it’s a lot of kids, or mothers and just to see their smiles, it’s really cool. When I was child, every day after school I was assembling bikes. I would spend all day in the bike shop looking for parts, watching how they were fixing the bikes - so it’s nice to be able to put my skills to good use.
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Paul set up a great programme with the inmates in Mountjoy, they are also helping us to assemble bikes for Ukrainians. They’re doing really well. We give them old bikes, dirty, rusty, and they make them like new. Paul has been giving them lessons, and I bring up a lot of parts, depending on what they need.
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I really like being in Dublin, it’s very similar to Odessa. And I really love working with Paul. I just want to be able to help while I’m here in Ireland. I want to do something good, that makes people happy.”
Meet Olga...
Olga is a Ukrainian fashion designer who has been living in Clare since July 2022. She works with Clare Local Development Company and volunteers with Mná ag Gaire, a women’s community hub in Ennis, where she upcycles clothes for their zero-waste shop, Chic Nua.
“When I first arrived in Ireland, I thought I’d really love to live in Limerick. I had read about Limerick lace and I wanted to see how it was done. But then by chance, all my activities and opportunities came from Ennis.
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I heard about Mná ag Gaire through the Ukrainian community, that they needed volunteers. As I was volunteering, the ladies here asked me who I am and what I do. I told them that I'm actually a fashion designer.
They had a project called Chic Nua, all about sustainable fashion, recycling fabrics and clothes. They were preparing for a show, so we made some costumes for the actors. The dress for Cinderella, was made from 300 square pieces of recycled denim. We did a small fashion show with dresses that were available to buy. Some of the ladies wore my up-cycled designs to the Killarney races last summer! I’ve also made Irish dancing costumes for a local group.
After the show, I got more involved with the work of Mná ag Gaire, making clothes. I also work as a community interpreter with the Clare Local Development Company. I interpret at events around the county like recruitment fairs or training sessions. I also work on projects to integrate Ukrainians in Ireland, last Easter I ran workshop sessions to share Ukrainian egg-painting traditions with Irish people.
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They suggested that I go on some courses to help me to create my own business. And they’ve given me a mentor. She’s teaching me about setting up your business in Ireland.
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In the future, I plan to make my own designs and I'm just finishing up a course in college that will allow me to be a tutor and share my knowledge.
At Mná ag Gaire, they gave me this studio, my own space to work. Sometimes I’m sketching designs, or right now I’m focused on recycling some jackets, I’m adding pearls to give this one a second life. I created a skirt with a removable trim that makes it work as both a casual skirt or for a special occasion.
The women here in Mná ag Gaire, give a lot of opportunities to women around Ennis especially the Ukrainian women. We have exercise classes with a Ukrainian instructor, we have a lot of art workshops - when you do art, your brain is able to relax. On Fridays, we have an English speaking club, sometimes we cook here too.
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It means a lot to have this place. When the war started, and people started to arrive, we needed a place where we could gather and meet each other. Mná ag Gaire gave us the space and the opportunity. This is a place to communicate with people who share your own interests. The people are really warm and open here.
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I decided to be a volunteer in Ireland because I want to share my knowledge. I want to teach people simple things about sewing, and if they are interested, I’ll share everything I know.
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It was a big decision to come to Ireland, but you know sometimes, we can take a decision and it changes our life. Things are working out good for me here. It’s beautiful – I love that it’s green all year around – it's like happiness for your eyes!”
Learn more about supporting Ukrainian refugees in Ireland at RedCross.ie
Ukrainian Stories is a collaboration between:
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In the Media
Ukrainian Irish dancing teacher is visited by Riverdance performers
Making Ukrainians feel at home in Sligo through the cooking of native food
Kerry museum show Ukrainian soldier’s photos from siege of Azovstal steelworks at Mariupol
Ukrainian Irish dancing teacher is visited by Riverdance performers