Yuliia facilitates the ‘link’ between Bundoran and Ukraine

While the number changes from week to week one of the more recent statistics shows that there were 641 Ukrainian refugees based in Bundoran, the largest number of refugees in any part of the county.

However the real figure is up to 800, if not greater.

There is no statutory obligation on accommodation providers to tell the DLDC (Donegal Local Development Company) their latest numbers, but they rely on a variety of sources for the numbers gathered for their database which is shared with agencies and organisations.

Yuliia Melnyk started with DLDC in mid-December as a Community Links Worker.

The role aims to engage with Ukrainian communities in Donegal and a wide range of service providers using an integrated and community development approach, but her main concentration relates to Bundoran and the neighbouring area.

The Democrat caught up with her after she was engaged with a bit of translation work for some local refugees from her country.

Yuliia arrived with her two children in Bundoran in March of last year, not long after the Russian invasion.

Back in Ukraine, she had been a lecturer in a local university, but had taken a sabbatical just before the invasion, having worked the previous 15 years there.

She has a Phd in economics but with the outbreak of war and located just 30 kms from the Russian border, she felt it was safest to travel west.

Her own city of Sumy in the north east of the country had a pre-war population of some 255,000 inhabitants.

Russia borders Sumy to both the north and east.

Yuliia's role has been a vital link between Ukrainians refugees forced to flee a war torn Ukraine and the local populations and services of south Donegal 

It was encircled at the start of the invasion last year but they managed to hold out for six weeks, according to the Guardian newspaper, before repelling them.

President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, singled out the city’s resistance efforts then and since as a “bone in the throat” of the Russians.

Her husband remained behind, telling her to leave for the family's safety; she initially headed to central Ukraine, before coming to Ireland and Bundoran.

In recent days and weeks, Sumy has suffered a constant barrage of aerial bombardment.

Not knowing what to expect

“When I came to Bundoran, I was stressed and shocked but what I met here was kind and friendly people,” Yuliia said.

Remarkably, it was the first time that she had left her country, let alone travel to Ireland.

She and her fellow refugees were helped out by many Irish based agencies from which she said they were eternally grateful as it was with schooling in the local community.

For Yuliia kids, it was an adventure, but to her it was a step into the unknown.

As time went on and with her English language skills, she found herself more and more in contact with local organisations, as a translator.

“We didn’t know what to expect, but the main thing for me was that I could communicate through the English language. We simply did not know what to expect, but we knew that we would be safe.”

“When we came to Bundoran, we oiled it, we liked the people and by April I found a job in the bar. But I was looking for something more and so I met different people from different organisations and clubs and communities. I helped people to make appointments, to go to doctors, go to school and personal issues that might arise.

While she was part of the first groups that arrived in Bundoran almost a year ago, the situation was now much more organised, with greater information, of where to go and the availability of help for refugees was better streamlined.

In terms of economics she was asked about the number of refugees that now were in the resort, as a cohort of the area’s wider population and how that might impact an area.

“In each situation, in each action there are positive and negative features, but I hope that there are more positives because the refugees that come here bring something new, - new labour, new knowledge. Many Ukrainians have many skills. They don’t want to be fed and get a social (welfare) allowance. They really want to work, they want to do something to benefit, they want to help.”

She said that Ukrainians had very much taken the concept of volunteerism and community groups as it was not as popular in Ukraine, as it is in Ireland.

She said that the Ukrainian people were willing to help and do something for those same communities that were hosting them, in order to “find their place in this community”.

In terms of the accommodation that is hosting the refugees, she said that some of these premises were hosting people, well beyond any natural tourist season, which ought to help the local economy.

“There are still lots of places for tourists and visitors and I think that in Bundoran there is a place for everyone. Tourism is only (for) some months but Ukrainians live here all the year and it is also good for the retail and local economy.

But the main point that most would say apart from gratitude, would be a desire to contribute to the communities and economies of where any Ukrainian refugees are located in Bundoran, Donegal or elsewhere.