Almost €5,000 raised to help Irish medical students flee Ukraine
The plight of Carlow student Racheal Diyaolu caught the hearts of the nation as she made her bid to get out of Ukraine helped by two Scottish landscape gardeners.
A fundraiser set up to help Irish medical students evacuate from war-torn Ukraine has now reached €4,613 with the organisers pledging to donate any unused money to refugee charities.
Racheal Diyaolu, 19, has been the most high-profile of the students with her difficult journey from the besieged city of Sumy in the east with Scottish volunteer drivers hitting the headlines in recent days.
From Carlow, her plight caught the hearts of the nation as she first hid from shelling, and then got in touch with volunteers who have been driving around Ukraine bringing people to the border and safety.
The fundraiser was set up just two days ago by Ronke Banwo, also from Carlow.
The urgent message to potential donors reads: “Proceeds will go towards facilitating their strenuous journey, and aiding their safe return. Remaining proceeds will be donated to various charities to help evacuate more students and civilians from war torn Ukraine.”
Donations ranged from €10 to €100 per person.
Meanwhile, in Cork City, the Together-Razem Centre continues to work with newly-arrived Ukrainian refugees.
Run by Polish volunteers and part-time staff, the centre is offering language support and help with accommodation.
Yesterday was “another busy day” for the centre. Many of the new refugees have no money and no English, with people also coming now who do not have family here and are in urgent need of accommodation.
“We are the first point of contact for Ukrainians in Cork. We are setting up a reception hub here for them,”
Wojciech Bialek said.
He is hopeful there will also be government help and structures set up in Cork and other cities around Ireland.
The centre is also running a fundraiser as it is a small charity and now expect thousands of Ukrainians could end up living in the Cork region. It is funded on a project-by-project basis by the Polish embassy in Ireland, he said.
The centre plans to hire a Ukrainian-speaking mental health counsellor.
Mr Bialek is very concerned about the long-term impact of the war on the fleeing refugees.
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said he has written to the president of the EU Education Council to seek a special meeting of the council to discuss providing scholarships, education, and training supports for Ukrainian students coming to the EU as refugees.
“My department will also ensure English language supports are provided to people from Ukraine arriving in Ireland and also work with them to support them to aligning skills or qualifications with the Irish system,” he said.
Also yesterday, Hazel and Hilary Robinson who drove a horsebox van filled with donations from Stand with Ukraine–Waterford to the Polish-Ukraine border arrived back in Dublin port just after 6pm.
The mother and daughter duo partnered with Iga Harwas, who lives in Waterford City, to ship the first of three truck-loads of aid to the Polish Red Cross.
Ms Harwas said a second truck will go to the Polish town of Gliwice where she has arranged for a local charity to transport the goods directly to Ukraine.
A third truck, containing donations made to her ad-hoc organisation but from New Ross in Wexford is going directly to the Ukrainian Red Cross, she said.
Volunteers are in New Ross this week sorting the donations, and she appealed to donors to focus on practical items like power-banks for mobile phones.
In Ukraine among the many people assisting locals and stranded foreigners, the two Scottish volunteers who assisted Ms Diyaolu continue their work.
The men, Joe McCarthy and Gary Taylor, have shared their journey on social media, with Mr McCarthy posting at one point about a dangerous interaction with Russian soldiers.
“We were shot at, our tyres were shot at,” he said. “My phone was stolen.”
Rescued themselves by Ukrainian locals, it did not deter the two landscape gardeners from what they refer to as “mission impossible” of rescuing any stranded people.
Another video shows them assisting a Ukrainian woman, her disabled son and their dog to the Romanian border where they were met by an ambulance.
Even now as the war becomes more dangerous daily, the pair have said they are determined to stay until their money runs out. They also have an online fundraiser on Gofundme.com named Help civilians flee Ukraine which, up to last night, had raised more than £42,000 (€50,000).
This is helping them buy fuel and food, even though some of their videos show empty shelves in supermarkets and the difficulties of finding food at some stops.
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