A cup of tea and a warm welcome for Ukrainian refugees at Shannon Airport
Irish Red Cross volunteers assisting Ukrainian refugees arriving into Shannon Airport. Picture brendan Gleeson
There is something very Irish about the offer of a cup of tea in times of trouble. And that's exactly what will be greeting many of the Ukrainian people who find themselves landing in Shannon Airport over the coming weeks and months.
A cup of tea, and welcoming smiles on the waiting faces of Irish Red Cross volunteers.
But it isn’t as simple as just a cup of tea, as Aiden Lonergan explains.
Aiden is the national director of community support at the Irish Red Cross, and he is joined by a team of five volunteers at the airport.
As the hours slip away from Wednesday night into Thursday morning, the team prepares for a flight landing from Budapest.
“We don’t know who will be on the plane,” Aiden says. “There might not be anyone who needs our support, there might be twenty. We will just have to see.”
The flight lands at 12.05am, and the first off the plane are those who have travelled for everyday reasons.
About 45 minutes later, those from Ukraine start to filter through.
The first through the door is an elderly woman. She is wearing a big coat, built for the cold and carries little luggage.
She walks up to a couple who have been waiting for over two hours, introduces herself, and then hugs them with a familiarity not usually meant for strangers.
They take the offer of a cup of tea, and a short rest, before they are on their way.
Many of those who come through will have people waiting for them.
A woman with four young boys comes through next. Someone she knows greets them at arrivals, and they continue their journey.
Next is a young woman. Introducing herself as Lana, Svitlana Vitske needs accommodation. She's greeted by the Red Cross who invite her to take a moment in a rest area.
While one of the volunteers goes to find her a phone charger, she describes the journey that brought her to Shannon.
“I left the capital, Kyiv, because that was right where they were bombing, so I had to leave,” Lana says.
“It was a hard decision to leave. Because my mom stayed there,” she adds.
Right now, she says, it is quiet where her mother is, and she hopes it will stay that way.
She says the last couple of weeks have been difficult for her, and that she is still adjusting but she came to Ireland because her friends told her she would be safe here.
“One day everything is OK, and the next day I woke up, and my uncle text me to run away, that the war had started,” Lana adds.
One of the Red Cross volunteers takes her to their storeroom, where she is invited to pick out clothes, sanitary products, and other supplies she needs.
At first, Lana is reluctant to take anything for free, but the volunteers reassure her.
“It is my first time here, in Ireland, so I don’t really know how to feel. But the people here are so kind.
"I have just landed, and these people here have already given me water, and any other provisions I need, they are amazing,” Lana says.
While the volunteers find Lana some accommodation, a woman, waiting nearby, strikes up a conversation.
She is waiting for her parents, two elderly relatives and a family friend.
Her husband had travelled from Ireland, through Poland and into Ukraine in order to collect them.
They soon come through the gates, and after a tearful reunion, the extended family sit for a cup of tea with the Red Cross.
The husband says that the trip, which they took through Ukraine, would usually take around 12 hours.
This time, however, it took four days, as they navigated besieged cities, collapsed bridges and frontlines. So they are grateful for the short respite.
As they leave, one of the women thanks everyone she passes in her native Ukrainian.
Shortly after this group leaves, two women in their early 20s come through.
Their names are Helen Honchorat and Kateryna Miyonko, and they have travelled together from Eastern Ukraine.
Speaking about their journey, Helen says they have been on the road for nearly three days.
“We wanted to find a safe place, and we believe that Ireland is very safe. It is far from Russia, and we are afraid that Putin will use nuclear missiles. It is very scary,” says Helen.
“We were hearing missiles flying over the house and targeting the military base nearby, so we decided we need to get as far away as possible,” she adds.
Shortly after the two women get settled, a woman and a little girl, no older than six, walks through.
The young girl wheels behind her a bag that's almost half her size. She smiles and waves at everyone as she goes.
The final group to come through are two women, aged in their 30s, with two young boys. The group is visibly exhausted, with one of the boys, aged around three, asleep.
Aiden carries him to a room where the family can rest.
Once they are settled, Aiden talks about the work the Red Cross has done and will continue to do, at the airport.
“We have roughly 91 volunteers deployed across Shannon, Cork, and Rosslare, who have given about 528 hours and supported or assisted around 822 people,” Aiden says.
“The Cross or the Red Crescent exist around the world, even with a language barrier, it is familiar, and it tells them who we are and what we do,” he adds.
Aiden says that they see refugees coming through in various conditions.
“Some are very focused. They want to sort where they want to eat and sleep, so they are focused on their basic needs,” Aiden says.
“Some of the others are in a more distressed state. They have just landed and maybe the reality of everything has just hit them, so they need some peace and quiet, which we provide,” he adds.
Aiden says that the volunteers here with him are trained in psychological first aid, so they have some of the skills and training to be able to help those people in that distressed state.
He says the outpouring of support from across the country has been amazing, but they are always in need of more volunteers.
So for those who want to join the ranks of the Red Cross, the door is always open.
- For information about ways you can volunteer, email membership@redcross.ie or call 01-6424600
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