By Rebecca Crockett
A new documentary comes to TG4 next week which explores the lives of a Ukrainian family who have made a home in Ireland since the war.
Idir Dhá Bhaile – ó Chív go Corcaigh, follows Leo and Nadia Dobrianska, a father and daughter who travelled from Kyiv to Cork to escape the war in their homeland.
Airing on TG4 on September 25th at 9:30 pm, it was filmed during their first two years in Ireland as they try to rebuild their lives. We see the pair confront the future as they join the 100,000 Ukrainians who have come to the country since 2022; while also mourning the life, and loved ones, they left behind in Ukraine.
The family originally were joined by Nadia’s mother, Olga, but sadly she passed away just four months after settling in Cork. Nadia’s brother Petro remains in Kyiv to fight in Ukraine’s auxiliary defence forces.
For Nadia, a fluent Irish speaker, embracing Irish culture isn’t a new challenge. After discovering a love of the language in her youth through traditional Irish music, Nadia began learning as much as she could. She tried learning through Russian and English textbooks, but it wasn’t until she began the popular language app Duolingo that something finally stuck.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner in 2023, Nadia said: “It worked really, really well. Ever since I’ve been learning Irish, and I’m fluent by now.
In 2018 she received funding to take Irish studies at Queen’s University in Belfast before returning home and working with a human rights organisation.
When the war broke out , she unexpectedly returned to Ireland and has since begun a PhD in Irish history which she is expected to complete in 2025.
In the documentary, the student visits the Irish-speaking Tory Island in Donegal where she meets fellow Ukrainians settled there who share hopes of returning home.
Toraigh is Ireland’s most northernly inhabited Island. Situated around nine miles from the northwest coastline, it is the northernmost post of Donegal’s Gaeltacht culture.
Director Sinéad Ingoldsby said: “Nadia and Leo’s deeply moving story gets behind the headlines to tell of the devastating effects of war and displacement on one family. In sharing their personal trauma, they demonstrate the resilience, generosity, and spirit of Ireland’s new Ukrainian community”.
Idir Dhá Bhaile – ó Chív go Corcaigh will broadcast on TG4 on September 25th at 9:30 pm.
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