‘I feel a big heart for the Irish people and I’m thankful for this. It gives me strength’

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on the morning of February 24th, 2022, Olena Domina felt relatively confident she would be safe in her hometown of Khotiv on the outskirts of Kyiv. Her parents and sister’s family, who left their homes in central Kyiv and spent the week leading up to the invasion with Olena, decided a few days before the invasion to travel west and rent an apartment in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. Olena’s two daughters joined their grandparents but her teenage son chose to stay with his mother.

“My home was more or less secure because there was no shooting in my village but 15km away there was bombing happening.”

Then one afternoon, a rocket hit the nearby forest, just 3km from Domina’s home. When her son ventured outside, he was shocked by what he saw.

“It was explosion with three tails right in front of his eyes. After the rocket shattered he said, ‘it’s just like in the video games’. That moment made me realise something had to change so we followed my family west.”

A fourth-generation Kyivite, Domina grew up, studied and worked in the Ukrainian capital city. Brought up in a Russian-speaking family, Domina attended a school specialising in the English language from an early age. “It was a great place, very progressive. Even in the 1990s we did exchanges with schools in the US and students came to stay in our homes.”

Domina was also able to travel abroad from an early age, visiting her uncle in Prague and later other European countries through the Ecumenical Youth Council of Europe which she joined while studying for her degree in business administration at the International Christian University. She also studied for a semester in Switzerland, an opportunity which “shaped” her way of thinking. “It was still very unusual to travel from Ukraine at that time. It was a wonderful opportunity and expanded my life perception. It gave me this feeling of cosmopolitanism.”

After university, Domina worked in administration for McDonald’s and then as a brand manager with Coca-Cola. She had three children – two girls with a “sandwiched boy” between them – and trained in marketing before joining the Spanish food company Gallina Blanca.

She was still working in marketing when the Maidan uprising took place in late 2013 followed by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, a region she knew well from summer holidays as a child. Having studied propaganda in detail, Domina could see Ukrainians were being misled through Russian disinformation campaigns.

“I knew how propaganda influences people’s minds. When Crimea was annexed, people’s minds were prepared for that because they’d been building propaganda around that for 11 years.”

Domina subsequently trained as an “anti-fake news trainer” and worked hard teaching people how to separate fake from real news. By 2022, she was also a registered practitioner in Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and was invited to eastern Ukraine in January of this year to carry out training on communication around sexual violence. While she was following news reports about Russia’s plan for a military offensive, she didn’t believe the invasion would actually happen.

“Come to Ireland and we’ll treat you as family” and I just melted. I felt very vulnerable at the time

“The event was in Kharkiv and my sister, because she’s a media person, said ‘Are you crazy going there? Any day now there will be an explosion.’ But I wanted to go, and it was safe at the time. Then my friend who was dating a diplomat suddenly left for the US, and we could see families of oligarchs were starting to leave. People from abroad were also writing to warn us but we said ‘no, it couldn’t be like this’.”

When the invasion happened, Domina started volunteering in her local community and also ran online NVC seminars with participants across Europe, including Russians. However, after the rocket exploded near her home, Domina packed her belongings, and she and her son drove west.

After a short stay with her parents, her sister, who had already travelled to London, got in touch to say she had sourced an Irish family willing to host Domina and her three children in Galway.

“I received messages from the family saying come to Ireland and we’ll treat you as family and I just melted. I felt very vulnerable at the time.” With the support of her ex-husband, with whom she still has a courteous relationship, his girlfriend and colleagues, Domina drove to Hungary and flew from Budapest to Shannon Airport on March 27th with her children.

The family were welcomed with open arms by their Irish hosts. “They had spent a week preparing for us and thought of everything. They bought shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser, it was so kind. Most people who arrived from Ukraine have PTSD, and in the beginning we were frozen. But this family were magic for us.”

With the help of the host family, Domina’s youngest daughter started school two days later followed by her son the next week. The family also helped her 19-year-old daughter find a job in a local B&B while Domina immediately started reaching out to Galway-based companies and institutions looking for work.

She also set up a Telegram group for Ukrainians in Galway which now has 1,300 members. “I realised I had an opportunity because I speak English, and it’s easy for me to communicate here. Some people, even if they have high professions in Ukraine, because of the language barrier they’re lost.”

Domina now works as an interpreter for a number of services across Galway including in the infectious diseases department of University Hospital Galway. “If someone told me a few years ago I’d receive such satisfaction from this work, I wouldn’t have believed them. I feel that I’m not only interpreting but supporting people.”

We cannot plan for our whole lives right now. We can have long-term dreams, but in the short term our plans must be adjustable

She finds her NVC training particularly useful when interpreting for HIV patients who have recently arrived from Ukraine. “You provide active listening; you don’t judge or offer a cure. I feel real empathy for the people who have learned about their diagnosis for the first time here in Ireland.”

While her two eldest children are settling well in Galway, Domina worries about her 11-year-old daughter who misses her friends and is exhausted doing full-time education through English. She also admits the uncertainty of her family’s situation means she still feels quite vulnerable.

“I have some anxiety but I understand the world is like this and we cannot plan for our whole lives right now. We can have long-term dreams, but in the short term our plans must be adjustable.”

Domina explains she’s planning to find an apartment for her family and start living more independently. Shortly after our conversation, she texts to say an Irish NVC contact has generously offered six-months’ free accommodation for the family in Galway.

“I feel a big heart for the Irish people and I’m thankful for this, it gives me strength. I’m looking with optimism to the future because of the people here.”

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