Mariia, 10, is already making pals with help from Google Translate
LIKE any child on her first day in a new school, 10-year-old Mariia Sliepova was a bundle of nerves and excitement when she stepped through the doors of Ballycanew National School last Monday.
But Mariia had more reason than most to be nervous; she had landed in the country only five days earlier after fleeing Ukraine with her mother Olena.
On top of this, she could not speak English. But by Friday the brave little girl was communicating with her classmates via Google Translate and had already made friends.
Her aunt Nadiya Vereta, who has lived in the Co. Wexford village for 20 years, said her family was delighted to see her doing so well.
Nadiya told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘She was most warmly welcomed thanks to the school and she’s smiling going in and going out. There’s obviously a language barrier but the teachers are doing everything they possibly can and she is taking extra English classes oneon-one as well, every second day. Using the iPad, her classmates are asking her about her life and her hobbies as well as her family in Ukraine and she is trying her best to type back through the translator, which has been a great start.’
Mariia and Olena are from Rivne in Ukraine – reportedly one of the previously untouched cities bombed by Russia on Friday – and crossed the border to Poland on February 26 before spending two days waiting for transport to Ireland.
Nadiya said her sister and niece endured a very frightening journey out of Ukraine.
She recalled: ‘On that Thursday when we all woke up to the news of the invasion, we had to make a decision quickly because of the state of emergency.
‘The night before, I had been on a video call with my dad and he thought that if the Russians were to attack it would be something slow from the East. But that’s not what happened and we were shocked by the widespread attacks. We decided to get the girls, my sisters and nieces out and my brother-in-law drove in the middle of the night to the Polish border.
‘My parents are 65 and have decided to stay, while my brothers-in-law and nephew must stay to fight.
‘Before they got to the border, the family had to split up into different cars and join strangers so they could cross as there was no pedestrian crossing,’ she added.
Nadiya said that up until now her family back home have not experienced heavy bombing, but there are daily sirens and they