Over 150 Ukrainian refugees visit Irish art museum as part of integration trip

Over 150 Ukrainian refugees based in Leitrim visited the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) over the weekend as part of an integration trip. 

Members of the Ukrainian community from Mohill, Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim Village, Drumshanbo and other areas attended the outing, which was funded by Leitrim Development Company's (LDC) Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP). 

Speaking about the success of the trip, Integration officer at LDC, Deborah Shirlaw, said, "I wanted to find a place that people who can't speak English could actually understand, like I looked through all the galleries in Dublin and I figured the art gallery would be the best because you don't need full-on English to understand art. 

According to Deborah, the very high level of interest was unexpected. 

She said, "It was extremely popular among the Ukrainian community, they're very interested in art, they're really into that type of thing." 

She continued: "I've gotten a lot of thank yous, a lot of messages saying how much they enjoyed it and how much they learned from the trip." 

Ukrainian participants reportedly provided very positive feedback, with one person stating, "We are overwhelmed with emotions, today we learned something strange and interesting for us" while another said, "It was like a breath of fresh air, really impressive." 

Another participant said, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing so much good for us Ukrainians, for your support. We are happy, in Ireland we have found new friends!" with another stating, "It was a lovely day and we really enjoyed spending time in such a friendly atmosphere! Thank you for spending this day with us, Irish people are amazing!" 

Deborah said, "It was important to give them a day to just forget about the war for that little bit of time, because it would be so draining for them every single day having to worry about their families and what's going on in Ukraine." 

However, although the trip was enjoyed by all it wasn't without its challenges. 

She said, "It's very hard when you're explaining things and a lot of people don't speak English and to try and work around that, so there's a lot of communication between messaging and sharing map locations and that to make sure everybody had an understanding of where they were going." 

She particularly thanked volunteers Lucy and Daria for their help in this regard. 

As well as visiting IMMA, participants also had the chance to spend a few hours seeing Dublin independently before returning to the bus. 

"They all made it back, nobody got left behind," Deborah confirmed. 

A second trip to IMMA is also planned for July due to demand. 

As well as the IMMA trip, Ukrainians in the region also had the chance to cook their national dishes for the local community at a Taste of Ukraine event last week. 

According to Deborah, they cook in big batches to share with other Ukrainian families in their accommodation. 

Deborah said, “They cook everything from scratch, everything's fresh, there's nothing bought pre-made. The problem they're facing in hotels is they can't cook their own food, they have to just eat what's served. 

“It takes away that freedom to pick what you want to eat that day, what you want to make, and you don't realise how important that is until it's taken away."