UKRAINIAN Serhii Korobtsov has built a new life for himself in Limerick since Russia invaded his homeland back in February 2022. One of the lucky ones to escape the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II, the jovial 36-year-old has played a huge part in bettering the lives of those arriving on Shannonside in hopes of surviving the bloodshed and destruction at home, writes Limerick Post reporter Alan Jacques.
Serhii has made a significant contribution to his fellow countrymen, women, and children, overwhelmed by their plight, since arriving in the Treaty City almost three years ago.
A larger than life and instantly likeable character, he has been helping Ukrainian people with their new challenges as part of his role as an integration support worker with migrant and refugee support organisation Doras.
A qualified English and foreign literature teacher before arriving in Limerick, Serhii is deeply involved with volunteering projects locally, taking part in different migrant forums and helping to organise events for different communities.
A pacifist with a giving heart, he is also a big fan of The Beatles and considers his job with the Limerick-based migrant support charity as kismet after one fateful meeting. Sitting in his office on The Crescent with a picture of The Fab Four on the wall behind him, Serhii is keen to tell me all about it.
“I don’t even listen to The Beatles too much, because it’s like eating caviar every day. It shouldn’t become a routine. They have been a part of my life since my mother’s milk. The Beatles are like a part of my family.
“In the days of my youth and rebellion, John Lennon was always my favourite Beatle. Can you believe my CEO and leader is now John Lannon?” he jokes gleefully.
When Serhii first arrived in Limerick, he found himself in student accommodation with mothers and children, elderly and disabled people. Racked with survivor’s guilt, he tells me he feels an overwhelming need to work, contribute, and make a difference in Ireland to those fleeing the war.
This, he does every day with gusto.
“I have an English diploma, but I hadn’t used English in a few years. I was very shy, I doubted my skills, but I was ambitious. Every morning I was getting up with the feeling of, ‘What have I done for the benefit of my people?’” he says.
“After two or three days, a very kind, very polite Irish gentleman from Doras came to the accommodation. It was an emotional moment. There were a lot of people who were terrified, their husbands are fighting, maybe they’ve received bad news from home. We were all in a circle, hundreds of people, as he was addressing the crowd and it was loud. I thought ‘this is the moment’, and I said, ‘Sorry sir, but you probably need some help in translation, interpreting?
“He told me his name was John Lannon. You don’t understand what that means, I’m the biggest Beatles fan ever. It’s spelled a little different, but now I can say my CEO and my very good friend is John Lannon.”
‘I was calling myself a coward’
Serhii started to help the Doras CEO in the accommodation centre and worked with Irish volunteers who opened a zero-cost shop and planned activities for the children. He continues to make a difference and takes nothing for granted, even if the ghosts of those left behind weigh heavily on his shoulders.
A big strong hulk of a man with kindness and empathy at his core, Serhii, John Lennon may have said, is “a dreamer”, a dreamer that wants to live in a unified world without fighting and hunger. He cares passionately about people and carries with him an emotional remorse when he reflects on the friends he’s lost on the frontlines of Eastern Europe.
“We regret about the past, but we fear about the future. I left a little before the war and I’ve been granted a chance that I’m using. I was calling myself a coward because the information I am getting from home is that my friends are dying,” he says.
“I say to myself, ‘Serhii, you are a tough guy in the days of your youth, why are you not with them?’ I question myself and I doubt myself, but here I can make a difference and make life easier for others escaping the war. I can use my knowledge, my language, my skills, and my culture to help my comrades.”
You may say he’s a dreamer
Serhii says he is grateful to Ireland and the people who have welcomed him in Limerick, where he has found a new home, a new job, and a sense of purpose. But he often thinks of those at home, especially his parents, who he says will never leave Ukraine. Serhii and his brother send money home to them as often as they can.
“My parents are living in the central part of Ukraine, so they’re relatively safe. Our city – Zhytomyr – is being regularly bombed, but they don’t shoot the people on the streets.
“My mother is working the night shift, so it’s hard for her. She doesn’t sleep. I tell her, ‘you don’t need to work now, I will give you this money’. But she says, ‘No, I need to occupy my mind with something’.”
Like many of those he helps from Ukraine in his work with Doras, Limerick has become home for Serhii, and he sees a future here. Even as he poses for photographs on O’Connell Street, Serhii is clearly well got about the town. One lad on a bicycle calls out to him, “Hi Serge!” as he pedals past.
“One of the lads,” he tells me with a smile.
Before I let him go, I have to ask – “Do you consider yourself a dreamer, Serhii?”
“Yes, you must be a dreamer, but I’m not the only one,” he responds, not missing a beat.
“I hope someday people understand the war. It is not the resolution. They say it’s the final argument, there is no argument for me that can be resolved by taking somebody’s life.“I would just ask people not to judge us too much. If a person has never left their country having being forced to do that with bombs flying over your head or guns pointed at them, that is not easy. It’s easy to judge, but it’s not easy to set up your new life far from home. Some will leave, some will stay. Just don’t judge the whole nation for that. What I’m concentrating on now is what I can do to make the world a little bit better. That’s my concern.”
