Meet the volunteer helping Ukrainian refugees to rebuild their lives in Ireland

Refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine wait at a railway station in Przemysl, Poland. A website has been set up to make arriving in Ireland easier for those fleeing. Picture: Sergei Grits/AP

A group of volunteers is hoping to make arriving in Ireland easier for those fleeing the war in Ukraine with welcome packages from businesses.

Pryvit.ie was set up to allow businesses to showcase welcome offers for Ukrainian refugees who have landed in Ireland.

The website includes offers and discounts from small businesses including hairdressers, coffee shops, recruitment companies, and co-working spaces.

Talita Holzer said the idea for the website was sparked by an event organised by the Tech for Good Dublin community.

The event aimed to come up with solutions to support people who have been displaced due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"Several issues" were raised during the event, Ms Holzer told the Irish Examiner.

"They were discussed by people who came from Ukraine and volunteers working with this group."

Ms Holzer said that one of the issues was how can people who have lost homes, clothes, and everything they own rebuild their lives.

"And we were thinking 'I'm sure a lot of businesses are willing to help'. But there is no directory of those offers. So we decided to build that."

'Welcome offer'

The aim of Pryvit is to help businesses in Ireland "to make a welcome offer and support people who have been displaced by the war".

Ms Holzer said there is a core team of five people involved in the website, one of whom is from Ukraine, as well as some volunteers who are helping out.

The website, which was built over a weekend, has options to be read in both English and Ukrainian.

They have plans to expand the website but, at the moment, aspects such as moderation are taking some time.

"It is just a volunteer effort right now," said Ms Holzer, adding that all moderating of businesses applying is done by the team.

As the project grows, they "need to just make sure that the tech is also developing", said Ms Holzer.

The 31-year-old, who is from Brazil but has been living here since 2014, is originally an engineer and is CEO of her own tech company, WayToB, which focuses on disability inclusion. She also founded GoingFar, a non-profit that helps migrants and refugees to find employment in Ireland.

Talita Holzer, who is helping with Pryvit.ie

"So this was really kind of an overlap of tech, which is one of my passions, and inclusion of migrants and refugees. So I definitely thought it would be a good trick to get involved."

At the moment, on Pryvit, there are around 30 businesses offering a service, mostly small businesses which they initially targeted.

"We really wanted to go beyond just the financial support to the person.

"At the moment, we're hoping that small coffee shops or a hairdresser will invite people in, give them a discount or a free haircut, for example, but also engage. Like, with small businesses, it's much easier for the person [who has come from Ukraine] to actually meet new people, have a chance and not feel alone in this new country."

There are some businesses that are not on the website that they would like to have included.

We are hoping for more pharmacies and maybe smaller markets that sell food and things like that because those are important as well.

"We do have some kind of legal advice and there's a notary there. Those kinds of services are also very important for someone who just arrived and maybe needs some guidance on these areas."

While the project currently is hoping to help Ukrainian people, Ms Holzer said that her "personal goal" would be to expand it to anyone who needs a welcome offer.

"Hopefully, this war will end soon and we won't need this anymore, and then we can expand this offer to refugees from other nationalities as well."

She hopes that they will be able to make the website "a little bit more intuitive and easy to use".

"At the moment, it's fine because we don't have that many offers, but as soon as we start to get through a larger number of offers, we would need to split everything up by categories, make it kind of look like a retail shop website."

She said they also want to engage with more businesses and show that there is a benefit to being involved with Pryvit.

"It's not just about helping people but you're also putting your brand out there and getting more people to know about your brand."