‘Air raids are a constant reminder of where you are’

“Every facet of life is hard for them,” said a teacher who spent the last two summers helping displaced people in Ukraine.

In February 2023, one year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ger Barrett, a sixth-class teacher in St Anne’s, Fettercairn, felt like he needed to do something.

After exploring opportunities with different charities, he spent summer 2023 in Vyshhorod, a suburb in the north of Kyiv, and summer 2024 in several towns around Kyiv and Bucha, an area significantly devastated by the war.

He took care of recently re-built libraries and schools, taught English to both adults and children living in camps for “internally displaced people,” and enjoyed organising fun games and activities for the children too.

Ger describes a country where “buses are working and supermarkets are open”, even amid heavily damaged buildings and infrastructure.

But it was the noise and the fright from incoming air raids which always brought him back into reality. “I witnessed explosions on two occasions, but air raids are a constant reminder of where you are,” he said.

The people he helped changed his way of looking at things, especially the children.

St Anne’s teacher Ger Barrett with books he taught in Ukraine

“Whenever there was an air raid, the kids would be the ones showing me how to get to a shelter, where the lights were, where to sit.

“To think that they were able to be so kind and playful while going through this, they are amazing. And they know the procedures so well it makes you understand how long this has been going on for.”

The second summer, Ger volunteered again as he “couldn’t think of anywhere else he should be.”

“It’s not really about what I was doing as a volunteer, those children’s parents were so grateful just because I was there.”

In spite of an ongoing “nerve wrecking” feeling given by air raids and destruction surrounding him, Ger said he never felt particularly unsafe, and that it was a “learning curve.”

But his feelings were nothing compared to the “loss of hope” he saw in the locals, especially the second time he volunteered.

“On my second time it was harder, there has been more death, more loss and displacement.

Ger Barrett volunteered teaching English to children

“They can’t see an end to it, and they’re also getting less help from the West.

“When we read about ‘delays’ in aid in the news headlines, to them that’s more infrastructure run down, that’s less electricity.

Especially the younger Ukrainian volunteers he worked with are filled with “anger and bitterness”, Ger told The Echo, as only two years ago they were dreaming about going to college, getting a job, “being whatever they wanted to be. Now, it has all been taken away from them.”

Coming home to his regular teaching job in the Dublin suburbs made him feel “filled with gratitude.”

“We have a lot of problems in Ireland, but life is easy here. You don’t have to worry about electricity or air raids. I felt grateful for what I have.”

Ger might consider spending next summer in Ukraine too, but he doesn’t want to make any promise. “I saw real people behind headlines, I made real connections. I look forward to being back with them, but it can also be mentally draining. I don’t want to promise something I’m not able to keep.”