It surprised me how difficult it was finding support services and organisations for refugees in Kilkenny, despite articles on how many Ukrainian refugees are currently being housed in the city of Kilkenny. The Kilkenny volunteer centre had information displayed about their latest clothing donation appeal raising funds for the IOM Ireland’s Ukrainian response, but nothing related to support and housing in the community. Their strategic plan 2023-2025 has a couple of references to migrant communities but again only in relation to fundraising rather than support.
I found their ‘Volunteer Do’s and Don’ts’ to be an interesting resource and could definitely be adapted in the classroom for maybe a ‘Caring neighbour Do’s and Don’ts’ in relation to supporting refugees in your community. I found it disappointing that there were so many articles and so much information relating to the cost of housing refugees but so few initiatives for supporting and integrating these people into our community, this could of course be a prompt for lessons on change and creating initiatives.