A hand of friendship:
A community responds to the Ukraine crisis
The painting Hands presented by 16-year-old artist Oleksandra Atamanenko, a Ukrainian visitor from Kyiv to mark the Maynooth Ukraine Response 2022 and the partnership efforts of the Maynooth Ukrainian Action Group
As people fled the war in Ukraine, Maynooth University found itself at the heart of a massive response operation which is now being recognised as a template for how communities respond to emergencies in the future, writes Kathy Donaghy.
Like many of the country’s universities, Maynooth was asked by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide short-term accommodation for people seeking refuge from war in Ukraine.
However, it soon became clear that the university was stepping out of its comfort zone in providing assistance to vulnerable adults and children who’d had to flee their homes often leaving loved ones behind.
Dr Gemma Irvine, the university’s Vice President for Equality and Diversity, reached out to other local and national agencies and it was agreed that a co-ordinated response would be the best way of dealing with displaced Ukrainian people who had a wide variety of needs from provisions such as baby formula and nappies to assistance in setting up PPS numbers.
A massive support operation swung into action bringing together the Irish Red Cross, Kildare volunteers and Ukranian volunteers together to offer support on campus. A pop-up shop run by Helping Irish Hosts was established and support agencies included clinics run by the Department of Social Protection and information desks signposting the way to welfare and medical supports.
Sporting activities and language classes on campus were coordinated in June by Kildare County Council and in August by Kildare Leadership Partnership, and lawyers gave their time pro bono to help people with any legal supports they needed. Maynooth University set up a Maynooth Ukrainian Action Group with weekly strategic meetings to evaluate and coordinate the response.
According to Dr Irvine, in the months of June and August, over 1,200 people were processed and supported through a range of agencies, and she believes Maynooth University was perfectly placed to offer this kind of assistance.
“Maynooth is a true university town. The student population is approximately 15,000. The town population is about 16,000. The effort wasn’t just from the university – everyone doing their piece meant the guests had a highly effective and supportive experience of being able to settle into Ireland,” she says.
The campus was full of other Ukrainians. Of course it was a time of change – we had to change our routine but I really loved Maynooth.
- Sasha Atamenko
Maynooth University President, Professor Eeva Leinonen and Dr Gemma Irvine, Vice-President for Equality & Diversity, with 16-year-old artist Oleksandra Atamanenko and her family and the wider Maynooth Ukrainian Action Group event at MU
Kristana Dobruk, age 6, from Mariupol enjoying Ukrainian Independence day at Maynooth University
Prof Hana Cerkinova, Dept of Anthropology, and Ukrainian native Jennifer Anorue introduce the poem The Calamity Again by Taras Schevchenko at the MU Vigil for Ukraine in March
“We started up a Ukraine Information Centre on campus at Education House. That’s where the Irish Red Cross had their centre. It’s where the pop-up shop was based. I believe it’s a good model of a community response and we’re reliably informed that this model of multi-agency response wasn’t replicated anywhere else,” adds Dr Irvine.
She believes the type of co-ordinated approach offered at Maynooth was successful because it was able to solve people’s complex problems largely on campus as they arose. The learnings from this response will be invaluable, she believes.
After working as a volunteer with the Irish Red Cross for 32 years, Rosemarie Hayden is now the organisation’s Pro Bono and Volunteer Co-ordinator in the Migration Department. A lawyer by profession, Rosemarie was on the ground in Maynooth leading the agency’s response on campus for most of the summer.
“People were interested in helping and in working towards a common goal – we were all pushing in the same direction. This was the most all-consuming project I’ve worked on,” says Rosemarie, who has been volunteering with the IRC since the age of 11.
The invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the largest movement of displaced people in Europe since World War II. For this country, this has meant the largest arrival of displaced people in the history of the State. Rosemarie says their needs were ‘right this minute’ needs and IRC volunteers were relying heavily on their translator colleagues on the ground in Maynooth.
She recalls one elderly lady who was blind arriving with her partiallysighted granddaughter wearing only bedroom slippers.
To avoid long queues the IRC welfare clinics provided people with a time to come for help with clinics running seven days a week. “We were dealing with people’s immediate concerns for food, shelter and medical needs. People left home not knowing what country they were going to end up in,” she says.
Rosemarie, who grew up in nearby Donadea, Co Kildare, believes ‘welcome’ is stitched into the fabric of college life at Maynooth which is one of the reasons why the experience there this summer was so positive for everyone working to help the arriving Ukrainians.
“I always loved the way the town and the college seemed to be one and the same. Every single person who was involved this summer was pulling together. A big part of why it was so successful was the involvement of the college because the apparatus of the university is minded to look after these people more than just by putting a roof over their heads.
“The university put in huge time and they invited in the State and NGO sector to provide a co-ordinated support system. People wanted to help,” she adds.
According to Rosemarie, the Irish Red Cross will take the knowledge gained from the Maynooth experience and see how this can be built on. “After we had been on campus for a while, it was a wonderful experience. It was sad and awful and terrible what people had gone through but it was a privilege to respond.”
Crowds gather on campus for the Vigil for Ukraine held at MU
Sinéad Bashir, an alumna of Maynooth and a community development worker with Co Kildare LEADER Partnership, worked tirelessly to help organise special events on campus for Ukranian Independence Day on August 24.
“It was a privilege to be part of the event to mark Ukrainian Independence Day and to be able to make a space for people to come together and to be there in solidarity with them,” says Sinead, who describes it as a day she’ll never forget.
She says events took place in various buildings on campus but everyone who was asked to help simply said ‘yes’ including the Students’ Union. “It was a most moving and humbling experience for everyone there. We had so many volunteers co-ordinating events. From talking to the Ukranians, they loved living in Maynooth. The campus became a hub – it wasn’t just about accommodation,” she says.
Sixteen year-old Sasha Atamanenko and her mother hoped against hope that they wouldn’t have to leave their home in Kyiv. It was, explains Sasha, a huge decision to come to Ireland where they found themselves in Maynooth last June with just a suitcase between them.
Sasha’s first observations were how friendly people were; how open they were and her memories of Maynooth are of it being a lovely time.
“The campus was full of other Ukrainians. Of course it was a time of change – we had to change our routine but I really loved Maynooth,” says Sasha, who is now living in Dublin and going to school at Manor House, in Raheny.
“We were in these very good living conditions and I really felt like I was a student at the university. It was really cool for me to see the world like this,” she says.
A talented artist – Sasha has been painting since she was a young child – she wanted to do something to show her gratitude to members of the Maynooth Ukrainian Action Group. She came up with the idea of painting two hands holding one another. On the left, the Irish hand, painted in the colours of the tricolour, is reaching out for a hand painted in the blue and yellow of Ukraine. Her idea is simple: to show Ireland helping Ukraine.
After painting small versions, Sasha presented a larger version of her painting to the President of the University, Professor Eeva Leinonen, at a special ceremony at Maynooth in September.
Sasha says while she doesn’t know what the immediate future holds, she has her hopes and dreams of one day being a diplomat or a lawyer. Wherever her path leads, she will never forget her first experiences of Ireland in Maynooth.
Olha Onyshceko from Kharkiv holding the Ukrainian flag
National Student & Researcher Helpdesk opens university doors to Ukrainians
Vice President of Equality and Diversity, Dr Gemma Irvine; President of Maynooth University, Professor Eeva Leinonen; Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris; Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland, Gerasko Larysa and Director of MU Access, Dr Rose Ryan at the launch of the NSR Helpdesk Maynooth Sparks event
Vice President of Equality and Diversity, Dr Gemma Irvine; President of Maynooth University, Professor Eeva Leinonen; Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris; Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland, Gerasko Larysa and Director of MU Access, Dr Rose Ryan at the launch of the NSR HelpdeskMaynoothSparks event