A warm welcome

Collective action and community spirit shone through as the small town of Molong in central-west NSW made a new home for a group of Ukrainian refugees, writes Monica Crouch.

In early 2022, Pip Waters, a music teacher at James Sheahan Catholic High School in Orange, NSW, made inquiries about supporting refugees from the war in Ukraine.

After hearing nothing for months, Waters received a call asking if she could pick up a family that week. This family turned out to be Vika and Alex Volodin and their two small sons, who had not yet started school. Waters welcomed the family to her home.

She then spoke to IEU member Matthew French, a teacher at St Joseph’s Primary School in Molong, about 30 kilometres away, and asked if he’d like to be involved. He said he would.

They knocked on the local Parish Priest’s door. “They said they were passionate about doing something to address the need of Ukrainian refugees. Could the church help?” Father Bellamy said to ABC 7.30, on 9 November 2022. “Could I assist them in any way? After having some discussions, we realised that we have an empty building in Molong.”

That empty building was an old convent that had fallen into disrepair. What followed was a remarkable example of unity and purpose as Molong residents and other keen helpers came from far and wide to renovate the convent and make it a home for the displaced Ukrainians.

The Molong community has since welcomed a group of nine refugees, including two families, two children, a grandmother and a niece from Zaporizhzhia in south-eastern Ukraine, who has courageously come to Australia without her parents.

“We really hope this will be a home for them,” Father Bellamy said.

Ukrainian refugee Alex Volodin said: “I’m very happy to live here and very, very happy [for] my family, and it’s good for my children.”

Rapid renovation

Converting the convent became a 12-week community project. Along with St Joseph’s and James Sheahan, several other schools from nearby Orange were involved, including Kinross Wolaroi, Catherine McAuley Catholic Primary School and St Mary’s Catholic Primary.

Each school took on a room to renovate, with St Joseph’s taking the kitchen.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. “I got an estimate on how much it would cost to fix the convent overall – well over $200,000 – and that was going to be a problem,” French says.

“So I got in touch with a lady called Mary Mulhall – she’s, like, the matriarch of Molong. She’s a wonderful lady who can just drum up support at the click of her fingers. You know, people come running to help Mary, she’s a beautiful person and she’s strong.”

So Mary clicked her fingers and people did come running, some from considerable distances. “We had carpenters come from Dubbo [about 120 kilometres away], they were here from 6am to 11pm, for nothing,” Waters said. Painters came from Trundle, about 150kms away.

“There had to be a lot of tradesmen come in, but we’d make a phone call, and they’d come,” French says. “Electrics had to be changed because that stuff just wouldn’t have met today’s standards. Power points and lights and things like that.”

The school community proved incredibly generous. “The parents from our school supplied virtually everything for the kitchen – all the pots and pans and cutlery and glasses, and a coffee machine and mugs, and all the cookers and all that type of stuff,” French says.

Pip Waters and Ukrainian refugee Yulia

“We put a letter out to the parents and said, ‘look, this is what’s happening – this is a list of stuff we need. And right from the word go, I was getting emails or phone calls and we were ticking things off. There was literally thousands of dollars worth of donations coming in, in the form of new appliances and things that were needed for the kitchen.”

Father Greg Bellamy helps prepare the house for the refugees with community members

The dilapidated convent now hums with a happy energy and has a whole new lease on life. “The transformation is incredible, it’s like a new home now,” French says. “It’s gone from being a run-down old convent to virtually like a brand-new home.”

Finding their feet

The Molong community held an opening celebration and barbecue to welcome the Ukrainian families to their new home, complete with a Welcome to Country from the local Aboriginal group.

The Ukrainians are busy making Molong their home. Among the donations was an upright piano that the fathers from the school loaded onto a trolley and pushed up the hill to the convent. One of the group, Anna Kovalenko, not only plays the piano, she plays the organ in the small rural church.

The community work together to refurbish an old convent into a home for refugees

“We haven’t had musicians here for a long time,” Father Bellamy says.

Anna is enjoying life. “I have new friends and I feel very happy,” Anna said on 7.30. “I feel I have a new life. I have much work because I need to learn English. I’m very good right now.”

With community help, one of the group has established her own clothing repairs and alterations business, so she has some income. “We’ve created this logo for her and little business cards, and she’s already taking orders,” Waters says.

The men too have found work, and all are attending classes to learn and improve their English.

St Joseph’s, which has about 90 students, has welcomed one of the Ukrainian children into kindergarten, with a second to start next year.

Giving back

When the main street of Molong was devastated by a sudden, huge flood in November 2022, the Ukrainians were among the first on the scene to help with the clean-up.

“They wanted to give something back,” French says.

Molong is determined to help the Ukrainians make a new life. “There’s a sense of community, and a sense of compassion,” French says.

“Molong is a strong, community-minded place. It’s a close community, a farming community. People are very strong about their thoughts about Molong. Molong’s our town, and this is what we want.”

Waters echoes this sentiment. “The group has just continually impressed us with how hard they’ve worked and how much they’ve done and, and how far they’ve come. We’re proud of them.”

Says Anna: “I hope very soon, the war will end and many Ukrainian families will be safe too. At this moment I saythank you.”

References

The small community of Molong welcoming Ukrainian refugees with open arms, ABC 7.30, 9 November 2022, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-09/the-small-community-of-molong-welcomes-ukrainian/101636574