Last night I attended a short film about the experiences of two families, from Poland and Lithuanian about arriving and living in our county.
It was filmed over a year in both Poland and Fermanagh, it started with a girl who had a marital problem and decided on a new start....where better than the new "Western Frontier", but N Ireland. She left by herself, initially, to work in the officer of a local factory on the shop floor, then graduated to the office, then she was a translator for the firm when they went to recruit Polish workers.
She then assisted the new workers in getting housing, NI numbers, bank accounts an actually set up a two week induction period for all the workers from EE. Now there are 150 Polish people working there. Earning 4-5 times what they earned back home.
Eventually, Ella, realised that she missed her son and brought him over a year later.......now hes a real Fermanagh man! Speaks English perfectly with a local accent and bright with it. So good at organising and getting things done and knowing how many Polish people were in the county; that Ella and new local partner, decided to open a Polish shop..this is now open since July this year and is always busy!
The transformation is almost complete, her sister has joined her in the shop, plus recently her parents all the way from Katowice ( mum is now working for a local shop doing clothing alterations)...and Ella estimates that between, family, friends cousins etc, there are over 100 people from her extended family/locality now working in our county!!
As a comparison, we saw where she had come from, accommodation, school, workplace of her father....so far removed and different from now in Fermanagh. Things looked very tough, and crampt...even though they laughed about it all.......we suspected she was glad to have a new opportunity. But she said she still loves Poland and hopes to return......one day.
Ella, also attended and over saw the film, and at the end, got a well deserved round of applause..........everyone wished her well and hope she and her son and family have many happy years in our community.
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