Longford shows its support for ‘Justice for Ukraine’

Last Friday Longford's St Mel's Cathedral resounded with joyous choral music as a community came together to extend the hand of friendship to a displaced people. “Justice for Ukraine” was the brainchild of organisers Alla Shmygovska, Tiernan Dolan and John Farrell.

Children buzzed around the massive limestone pillars with an exuberance the preserve of the very young. The revelry of the small people suggests they are oblivious to the war that has uprooted their families.

In the pews of the cathedral were a mixture of young and old, refugee and local.

A live stream link brought the remembrance ceremony marking the one year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine to participants across the globe.

This was an evening of music, dance, photography and art. The music counterpointed the suffering of many who were in attendance.

There were moving performances from ‘The Main Street Singers’ - a group of Ukrainians now living on Longford’s Main Street, the St Mel’s Children’s Choir and the St Joseph’s NS Choir.

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While John Farrell provided some background on the Longford inspired ‘Little Steps for Ukraine’ initiative.

The assembled gathering heard one refugee's account of escaping one of the locations where Russian Forces are accused of killing civilians.

Marina Karcharava lived in Bucha up to the start of the war.

She took to the podium to speak of her experience of the invasion, and her subsequent flight from the war torn region.

Marina's story is all the more poignant given she lost both of her parents in the course of the conflict.

She outlined the sequence of events that brought her to Longford: “With no warning my life was turned upside down....clouds of Russian helicopters filled the sky, explosions and machine gun fire came nearer and nearer.”

Marina described the encroachment of war: “...familiar buildings near me like shops and schools were in flames. Hell surrounded me.”

Ukrainian woman chillingly recounts her incredible journey to safety in Longford: ‘I expected to be killed at any second’

Bucha in the early days of war was a dangerous place: “During a short lull in the bombardment, I ventured to my balcony to have a look. Immediately bullets came smashing through the windows and walls, I felt one bullet skim past my hair.”

The presence of death was a constant companion. When Marina decided to flee she took precautions: “I scribbled my name and details on pieces of paper and placed them in my pockets - so that, in the event of my death by the Russians, my body could be identified.”

The first leg of her journey took her from Bucha to the nation's capital: “I was asked to take a pregnant lady. I took her, her husband, my closest neighbour, she was 80, my two cats and piles of clothes. All stuffed in my Mini.”

The first stop was Kyiv, where she stayed with her daughter. Her next leg then became apparent: “Would you believe it, I met a Ukrainian lady, Alina, married to a Polish man. They were living in Mullingar, but returned to Kyiv to visit her family at the start of the war.

“I set out to Ireland, alone with my two cats and not much driving experience. I drove via Berlin, Hamburg, Belgium, Holland, France and took the ferry from Cherbourg, in France for Ireland and now here I am in Longford.”

In the course of her story the anguish of Marina's journey was more than apparent. The gathered audience gave her a rapturous response.

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The 'Justice for Ukraine' evening was a remarkable display of the respect the community has extended to people who find themselves in terrible circumstances.