Hosting Ukrainian refugees: ‘They do become like family’

For Sorcha Woods, very little has changed since she took Ukrainian refugees Natalia Les and her one-year-old daughter Margot into her home six weeks ago. In fact, Ms Woods said they very quickly have become "like family".

Ms Woods lived alone in Dublin and had a spare bedroom since her son is studying in Cork. The house is small and they share a bathroom, she said, but her gut instinct was just to reach out and help.

“Immediately I thought of all of the things that could go wrong, you’re used to living alone, your space will be invaded, what if you don’t get on, the language barrier, what do you do if it doesn’t work out,” she said.

“But I decided I would just deal with any of that when it happens.”And thankfully, Ms Woods said things have been really enjoyable since their arrival, with the situation not altering her normal routine all too much.

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Ms Les is very independent and goes out for walks, and takes the Luas to visit her siblings being hosted nearby.

“Somebody is in your space all the time and there’s a baby there. It is a readjustment but it’s not difficult. We have a very good routine,” she said.

“I come home from work at around 7, I spend about two hours playing with them, and we have dinner. Natalia is a wonderful cook so she cooks a lot. Then they go to bed at about 8.30, I see them in the morning, I play with them for about an hour. And then I go to work. I live the same life.”

Ms Woods acknowledged there are increased costs associated with hosting someone, but said they are hard to quantify.

“Of course there are associated costs. You might buy them things, you might drive them around a little bit. We go to the beach at the weekends,” she said. She said Ms Les buys all hew own food. “She didn’t come over with much money. She doesn’t contribute towards household bills, I didn’t ask her to.”

Language barrier

Overall, Ms Woods said she has grown incredibly attached to her guests. “They do become like family a little bit and you care about them and want the best for them,” she added.

Last week it emerged that more than half of the 24,000 public pledges of accommodation for Ukrainian refugees have so far failed to materialise. The Government is considering payments of up to €400 per month to assist hosts with the costs. It is hoped that this might encourage some of the withdrawn offers to come back.

We have laughs through the Google Translate, but they are trying so hard to learn English

Evelyn Burns and her husband have taken in a retired couple from Ukraine for the past five weeks.

She said it was great to be paired with people of a similar age , but that overcoming the language barrier has been the biggest challenge, as her new house guests do not speak English.

"Really I can't say that it has curtailed us or our lives in any way. Our couple doesn't have any English so Google Translate has been our lifesaver," she said.

“We have laughs through the Google Translate, but they are trying so hard to learn English. They’re going to English classes every day.”

While they have not noticed a significant increase in costs, Ms Burns said she is aware of other retirees who would have the space to take refugees in but are living on the State pension and could not afford to do it.

“There are loads of people our age who are on tight budgets and have lots of room but can’t afford to do the whole thing. It would be nice if they could get over that hump, if there was something there for them.”