Last week the women of Moving On were joined by women from Ukraine to participate in an exciting media training programme with Radio Kerry. Moving On is an innovative employment programme for women in Kerry, coordinated by Lisa Fingleton and Lisa O Flaherty.
According the Lisa Fingleton “the project is very flexible and is always evolving to respond to the needs of women. We are all so upset by the war in Ukraine and we feel it is so important to reach out and do what we can. We were delighted that the women could join us for this week’s training programme at Radio Kerry. We are also looking forward to hosting a jobs fair with our colleagues in NEWKD at the Rose Hotel with employers on the 25th April.
The media training programme was facilitated by Joe McGill and Connie Broderick and showed women how to create their own radio programme, covering everything from recording and editing interviews to being live on air in studio. One of the participants Collette Scanlon says she found it “fascinating to be in Radio Kerry. All the staff are just fabulous”. Radio presenter Deirdre Walsh and station manager Fiona Stack shared their experiences of working in broadcasting, which the women found really honest and encouraging. According to Kseniia Sydorova the whole week “was really educational. I am a teacher and work a lot with adults so this was an amazing opportunity.”
Mary O’Connell and Tina Carey found it very grounding to listen to the stories of Ukrainian women and felt it reminded them of the important things in life. As Mary says “Materialistic things are irrelevant and can be taken in the blink of an eye. Here am I stressing about getting the kids out for school while there are people with their houses burning in Ukraine.” Margaret Casey says she has been thinking all week of how she packs a bag for holidays and then looks forward to coming back to her own home. “They have left with whatever they could pack and that is it.”
It was a challenging week for the Ukrainian women as they watched the horrors being inflicted on their fellow Ukrainians at home. Olya Maryntseva describes how she was watching a video of the war during a break in the training when one of the Irish women started watching with her. Olya says “She cried with me. A shared pain is so important. No one can take the pain away but she helped by sharing it”. The group also watched the historic address by President Zelensky to the Irish Parliament.
The group have created an amazing and uplifting show that shares the common and different experiences of women who are trying to move on with life. Radio presenter Joe McGill described the week as being “absolutely fantastic. Each of the women were impressive in their own right and have produced top quality radio.”
Olena Syniuchenko says “We have different stories but we are all starting at a new beginning. Irish women are giving me inspiration and hope and I am blessed to have met them.”
Listen back to the podcast from the 9th April
Pictured below(LtoR): Collette Scanlon, Margaret Casey, Mary O’Connell, Olena Syniuchenko, Tina Carey, Kseniia Sydorova, Olya Maryntseva, Lisa Fingleton (Moving On, Joint Coordinator)
