Over 75,000 people from Ukraine have arrived in Ireland to escape the Russian invasion. Many communities have set up initiatives to welcome them, and in some cases the Ukrainian people themselves are helping those who follow them to settle in | More:
Just weeks after the Russian invasion which transformed her country into a war zone overnight, Olena Turkenych arrived in Co Carlow.
"It's all about Ukrainians. A lot of paperwork, because people come to us and they need help and support with filling in different forms, in English, and we do this for them. We support them with applying for medical cards, PPS numbers, and we try to find free available places in creches and schools because we are in close connection with the Department of Education and the HSE.
They have adapted the Be Kind project, first developed in the early days of the pandemic, to become a hub in Co Carlow where local people can donate household items and clothes for collection by those who have arrived from Ukraine, or elsewhere. Anna Zadorozhna arrived in Co Carlow about six months ago and says services such as those provided by Ms Turkenych and others were vital when it came to settling in.
"We didn’t feel as refugees, we felt as citizens of Ireland, so it is very nice because we didn’t feel any humiliation or something like this."
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