Oleksandra Kurova’s preconception of Ireland was largely formed by her fascination with the fictional life of Scarlett O’Hara, Gone with the Wind’s green-eyed southern belle. “I read this book maybe four or five times,” she says, laughing.
Kurova was a frequent visitor to her local library in Dnipro, Ukraine. When she wasn’t reading Agatha Christie, she remembers finding herself drawn to romantic depictions in Irish travel books. “Before the war, I read about Ireland and dreamed of visiting this beautiful emerald island as a tourist.”
She is now living in Longford town with her two young daughters, aged five and 12, and much prefers rural life to the bustling cityscapes where she grew up. Ireland has lived up to her expectations. “When I just came [to Longford], I saw it like the town of my dreams. In Ukraine, I lived in a big city and it was terrible. It had big buildings, it had traffic, it was very loud.”
Upon arriving here in March 2022, Kurova, who had aspirations of one day moving “to live in a small town like where my grandmother is from”, describes being dazzled by the “charming place with beautiful small bright houses”.
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“I was shocked, it was like I was in fairyland.”
Through the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) programme, Kurova and her daughters are now living in one such house in the town, where she works in Longford Community Resources and participates in the National Ukrainian Choir in her spare time. The choir, brought together by local development companies across Ireland, teamed up with songwriter Phil Coulter to re-record his hit song Steal Away, even joining him on tour to perform in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. Last week saw the launch of a documentary telling their story.
Having a natural inclination towards music from a young age, Kurova joined a Protestant church in Ukraine where she became the leader of her church worship group and sang in a Christian rock band. “In Ukraine it’s not the same as in Ireland, our churches are much more charismatic. Our worship group had a rock band, choir and a small dancing band.”
She says the choir became an important place for “the Ukrainian community” where they could “release our talents and energy”.
Like many Ukrainians who came to Ireland seeking refuge, Kurova lived in a hotel at first. Adjustment to life in the Longford Arms, where Kurova and her family spent six months, came with its challenges. “When we lived in the hotel, it was hard with kids because we had a small room.”
“My youngest daughter is very energetic. She is like a tornado,” she says fondly. For entertainment, Kurova took her children out to explore just about every shop in the town. She recalls the kindness of the people she met during those difficult first few months.
“When we’d just come to Ireland, everyone there tried to help us ... so I now have many friends from the shops.” One friendship forged over a post-breakfast ice cream run sticks out to her. “We met one gentleman from the small newspaper shop near the hotel. After breakfast we came to this shop to get ice cream and had a long chat with the owner of this place, it was very nice.”
After living in the hotel, the family moved in with an Irish couple and “their three beautiful dogs”, where they stayed until January. “My daughter speaks with an Irish accent now because for 1½ years we lived with an Irish family and she has the same accent as the gentleman from this family.”
Kurova, who started learning English after moving here, explains that her youngest has been helping her a lot with translation. “My youngest daughter, in Ukraine, she watched movies and cartoons in English. And when we came to Ireland, [my daughters] were better than me at English.”
She attended classes for three months in a Longford church, but what she finds most helpful for improving her English-language skills is her favourite programme, House Hunters International.
Besides the language barrier, she finds Irish and Ukrainian culture to be very well-matched, something which has helped her transition to life here. “Our culture is very similar and our mentality is very similar.”
She sees the history of both nations as something which ties them together. “We are like the Irish people. We are fighting for our independence, we are fighting for our freedom for many, many hundreds of years.”
She has yet to venture north of the Border, “I haven’t been in Northern Ireland because I’m a little bit afraid.” Through talking to Seán Regan, who managed Longford County Council’s Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme and was heavily involved with the choir, and Coulter, Kurova learned about the Irish Civil War and the Troubles. Regan died last month. Kurova says he “told us that it was a very hard time when you had your Civil War.” “He sang some Irish songs for us. It’s very nice to up your spirit, to up your soul ... to feel like a warrior, like a fighter.”
Speaking of the natural beauty of her homeland “on the road between the east and the west”, Kurova says “everything you need for your life, you can find in Ukraine”. “We have mountains, we have rivers, we have lakes, we have [the] sea, everything you need in the world you can find in our small country ... that’s why everybody who’s around us tries to take this place.”
She finds this natural beauty in Ireland as well. Although she has visited Dublin, she much prefers exploring the quieter countryside landscapes, driving to Sligo and Galway to enjoy the west coast. “What I especially liked [about Galway] were the arts and crafts shops. I bought some wool for my dolls, and fabric.” She shows one of the beautiful felt dolls she has crafted recently, a hobby she uses to wind down after work.
[ ‘All Ukrainian refugees have lost careers, houses, friends, language, prospects’Opens in new window ]
Asked if she would like to return to Ukraine in the future, she says she is content with the life she has built in Ireland, “I am not a young person. It’s hard to start a new life.” But, “for now my life is here”.
The National Ukrainian Choir’s documentary Steal Away is available to watch now on Empower’s website.
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish
