A Ukrainian woman is calling home from Ireland every three hours to check on her 70-year-old mother who has a wheelbarrow with blankets at the front door to wheel her 98-year-old nana to safety if fighting comes to her native town.
Luba Healy, who has been living here for the last 22 years, says she has been crying constantly since Russia invaded her native country and would return to help but for her three young children.
The planning manager of Trimfold Envelopes in Trim, Co Meath added that she came here two decades ago to flee corruption but believes that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has changed the country for the better.
“I can’t stop crying. I’m overwhelmed and just speechless trying to understand how one man can bestow so much pain and suffering onto a country that didn’t want war,” she said.
“My 70-year-old mam Nina and my 98-year-old nan Galina live in a town called Hairon, which is about three hours away from the battles at the minute.
“But you never know what three hours will bring, so I’m ringing them every 180 minutes to make sure they are still OK.
“My mam hasn’t told my nan about the war and she keeps asking why there is a wheelbarrow with blankets at the front door.
“The truth is that mam is not able to carry my nan, so if fighting starts in my town, she will put my nan in the wheelbarrow and wheel her to safety.
“My mam is an only child so it is just the two of them living there and hopefully others will help them to safety. The road has been destroyed so no vehicles can drive on it.
“Mam hasn’t told nana about the war because when she was young, nana used to carry heavy ammunition through the night to help Russian and Ukrainian soldiers in the Second World War.
“She has lived through two famines and always taught us to respect clothes and food and never waste them. She always said she prayed we would not see what she has seen or live the life she has had. Mam doesn’t think nana’s heart would take the news of the war.
“I always believed in President Zelenskyy. I fled Ukraine 22 years ago because of corruption but he is changing that. And by staying with his people, he is leading by example. He is not hiding. He is facing a bully.
“If I had not three small children, I would be on a plane back right now to help. If I could make a difference for even half an hour, I would.”
