Photo: REUTERS | Clodagh Kilcoyne
When Irishman Barry Haughian and his wife, Lola, watched Ukrainians flee their homes, they decided to offer up their second home—a 15th-century castle in the west of Ireland. Haughian flew to Poland and came back with 11 Ukrainians. “Every week it gets better,” he says. “You can see the weight coming off their shoulders. … It's a real 'céad míle fáilte' (a hundred thousand welcomes) from the people of Ireland." A month after their arrival, five of the group found jobs. Their children settled into school and played with local kids, whose families constantly drop in giving everything from spare fridges, televisions, bags of turf, and baskets of fresh eggs. Twenty-year-old Maria Nazarchuk is working at a garden center near the castle. "Irish people are very friendly, very kind,” she says. “All the people want to help us. I (am) very happy here. I have a good job, a good home. I never thought that someday I will live in a castle."
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