Ukrainian woman shares story of helping homeland from Limerick
IT was last September when I first set foot on Irish soil. I didn't know what was in store for my family. It seemed as though our whole life was behind us - life before the war and during the war in Ukraine was all we knew.
We did not have any sense of what our future might be. But, as soon as we arrived at the airport, it quickly became clear that the kindness of this nation is incredible.
I have a very strong memory of the first meeting that was held for volunteers. I was there because I wanted to help send relief back to Ukraine and the meeting was organised by representatives of the Red Cross.
I remember I cried because of their attention to me. I was overwhelmed that my needs were made the centre of attention.
This story is about a simple - but very important thing - humanity. I kept asking myself the question, why should people help each other even if they don’t know who they are helping? The only answer I can find is that, perhaps, just helping other people makes us truly human?
In Ireland, there are a huge number of people who instinctively help other people just because they are in difficult life situations in different countries of the world. Some help with giving gifts, some donate their time, some share funds that could be spent on their own needs, others help with administrative issues or with logistics.
Their way of offering humanitarian aid differs, but all of them are extremely important because they have that one simple goal - to help.
A month or so later an ordinary autumn day became extraordinary when Helen Minogue from the Brothers of Charity Services, Ireland introduced me to Trish Dillon. It seems that everyone in Shannon knows this wonderful woman.
Trish asked me about our organisation and, after a few minutes, we were both packing huge boxes with clothes for Ukrainian orphans, children and families, who had lost their homes. She told me about her amazing friends who support her charitable initiative and again I was overcome by the selfless generosity of people here.
It was because of this first meeting with Trish Dillon that the Ukrainian Charity Fund “Help from Hand-to-Hand” started cooperation with Irish volunteers. So, together, we organised a shipment of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Then it carried on again and again, more and more, throughout November and December.
And this is not down to our merit at all. We just met such wonderful people from all backgrounds – Irish, Ukrainians who have been living in Ireland for a long time as well as Ukrainians under Temporary Protection.
I must also mention the Association of Ukrainians in the Republic of Ireland and Ukrainian volunteers of Cork “Shtab Pivdnya” – our partners who give us our logistic support. I will never forget Halyna Royko, who, without even knowing me, in a matter of minutes organised the transportation of humanitarian cargo to Ukraine.
But the biggest surprise was yet to come.
I did not expect that as Christmas was coming miracles were about to happen too. Trish called and told me about a lot of gifts and sweets for the Ukrainian children. As a result, more than one hundred small children had a Christmas party with Santa and presents.
Time passed. Some requests were replaced by others. And again, the collected aid was sent – this time for hospitals. We arrived at the truck loading point near Cork. There were already people packing boxes with special sets of products and other essential items.
We decided to help with it. And in the course of the conversation it became clear that a well-known Irish politician, John Gilroy, helped pack and load the truck.
He told us about his recent trip to Ukraine, about Ukrainian destroyed cities, about destroyed families and destinies, and about the consequences of shelling. We spoke about Ireland and Ukraine – about similarities and differences.
But that is a completely different story.