Iranian Kurds who have lived as refugees for more than 25 years are learning to adjust to their new lives here, writes Carl O'Brien
For eight-year-old Zorar Ahmadi, who has never known life outside a dusty refugee camp, the biggest excitement was seeing green grass for the first time in his life.
Whatever chance he gets, he has been caressing it, lying on it, running on it, playing soccer on it. He has never looked happier in his life, his father says. "I cannot start to put into words the difference between this and the life we have had for the last 27 years," says Yousef Merza (34), a father of six, looking out the sliding door of his rented house in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo.
Yousef, his wife, mother and six children are among the first of a 180-strong group of Iranian Kurds to arrive in Ireland under a UN resettlement programme.
The family has been living in a series of temporary refugee camps after fleeing Iran in the late 1970s. Now, for the first time, they are learning to adjust to life in a peaceful, stable and permanent community.
Yousef's parents had lived as farmers near the Iran-Iraq border, living a modest but comfortable life, until Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979. Given the family's links to Iran's democratic opposition party, they were forced to flee the country.
Yousef was only seven at the time. It was the beginning of a chaotic two decades of life in temporary refugee camps which saw the family move to Iraq, to the no-mans-land of the Iran-Iraq border, and later to a refugee camp in Jordan. All the major milestones of his life took place amid the uncertainty of life as a refugee on the move: his marriage to his wife, Zinat; the birth of his six children; the death of close family members.
Despite the hardship, Yousef, who speaks with gleaming eyes about the possibilities of his new life, says he never lost hope.
He ensured his eldest daughter learned English, while he repeatedly applied to the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR, for his family to be resettled.
When word came in February that they had been successful and would be beginning a new life thousands of miles away in Ireland, it was almost too much for the family. "We were crying and holding each other.. For me, after spending 27 years in refugee camps, it was the best news I have ever heard in my life."
These days are full of firsts: their first experience in a supermarket last week, as they roamed the aisles of Super Valu in awe at the selection of food; his wife learned how to use an oven, microwave and washing machine a few days ago; his two boys, Zorar and Edres (14), are experiencing the thrill of playing football on grass for the first time.
Some families are finding it difficult to remember the wealth of things they learn each day, says Wendy Murray, the resettlement officer with the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA).
"You find yourself explaining how different things work in a house, whether it's the kettle or the oven, and four days later you find they've forgotten a lot of it," she says. "They are very enthusiastic to learn."
The orientation process is a step the authorities take very seriously. There is an initial course of three-hour tutorials on issues such as the law, money management and accessing services.
This is followed by several weeks of intensive English language courses. Other language courses and support are available thereafter on an ongoing basis.
"It's very important for them if they are to adjust to life here," says Martina Glennon, RIA's senior resettlement officer. "Concepts like making appointments, accessing different services, paying tax can be totally alien."
Yousef, meanwhile, is embracing his new life and is hugely excited by the possibilities for himself and his children.
He wants to take up work as soon as possible, while his children talk excitedly about growing up to become professional footballers, teachers or engineers.
His daughter Halala (16), who speaks English, is less sure what she wants to do. Whatever it is, she says, it will be something that benefits the country she now calls home. "We will never forget the life we had, but we will never forget the chance Ireland has given us," she says.