In a recent visit to Árainn Mhór, Allen Meagher was hoping to meet one particular Ukrainian family. The whole family could not make it, but Alexander, proud father of five children, told the story that astounded locals.
“Our baby is called Marvin. If it was a girl we were going to call him Maire,” said Alexander.
“Everyone asked did we go by helicopter or by boat (as expectant mothers normally do). “I said, ‘Neither’. They said ‘How then?’ and I told them. I was sleeping and Slava gave birth to the baby in the next room. I was asleep with two of our children and I woke up to the sound of crying, so I looked at the children in the bed and neither was crying. It was then my sleepy brain told me that our baby was born.”
Marvin is the first baby born on Árainn Mhór since the 1970s.
“For the baby it’s very good here, quiet and peaceful,” said Alexander. “When he was a newborn we used to walk to a beach with him while he was sleeping, enjoying the quiet. We used to live in a city and it was so loud, there were so many people. It’s a huge contrast to be here. It’s perfect for the children.
“I used to work as a graphic designer and we had an e-commerce store,” he said.
Could he find work here?
“Right now I am too busy home-parenting. I do some part-time jobs for my Ukrainian friends (abroad), but we don’t have many friends here yet so it’s hard to find a babysitter,” he said.
When his family first came to Ireland, they were allocated accommodation in a village in Co. Sligo. Then they were brought to Árainn Mhór and Alex says there is no comparison: “I think Arranmore’s community is just perfect.”
He pointed, for example, to the Active Arranmore activities on the island for all ages: “I met Alex (another Alex, also Ukrainian) through the chess tournament. Then our sons met.”
For more on Arranmore’s Ukrainian community, read here about how some of the island’s new residents are adapting to the change from city life.
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