Romanian nurse and mother who appreciates her family's new life here is much better

Moya Colipca is a childcare worker from Romania who has lived in Ireland for  six years. She lives with her husband and two children in Clonmel. 
At first, my partner dismissed the idea of moving to Ireland when I suggested it. So I told him I was leaving with the children.  He could  make up his mind if he was coming or not. 
 I heard of Clonmel from friends. They told me it was a large industrious town complete with a hospital and dotted with excellent schools. It was an unmissable opportunity for us to move here. Emigration offered a better future for my family and soon I had my heart set on going. 
The language barrier was never a major issue for me- I had studied languages in Romania. Romanian derives from Latin, so I find I have an ear for languages such as Italian, French and have even understood Polish. 
 English was a language you simply had to know in Romania in order to progress. When I first moved here, I discovered my qualifications were not accepted as they were completed before Romania joined the European Union. Undeterred, I went back to education and passed all my exams. I am proud to say I now hold a hard-earned Level Six certificate in childcare. I plan to continue with my education and become a Montessori teacher. 
I have always been a grafter. I think it’s a quality that comes with being the eldest child. There was always a need to provide for yourself and my work ethic had been instilled in me from a young age. I grew up in a hearty mountainous area where the majority of families were self-sufficient as the main industry was agriculture. 
 In my hometown, the parents often had to leave their children as they emigrated to make a decent living. The children left behind were often cared for by their grandparents and some suffered from neglect. I couldn’t bear seeing children go hungry like this. With two little brothers already in my care, I often would adopt children into our farmhouse. One little girl was given to me as an eleven month old. There was only eleven months between herself and her sister. Her mother had struggled to provide for all of her children,  so I scooped her up under my wing.
I was terrified at the beginning- I wasn’t sure if she would accept me.  We spent every day together until she started school. She has always remembered the care I provided her with and  we are still in contact. She’s only across the pond in London and now holds a degree in Communications and International Relations. It’s was wonderful to play a part in her blossoming into the successful force of nature she is today. 
At the time I was nurturing these children, I was only a child myself. From fourteen I began   to provide for the children of my community. Many were in the clutches of malnutrition or neglect and I did the best we could. 
 I have two younger brothers. I raised the youngest as my mother returned working full time shortly after he was born. In many ways, I’m his second mother. We’re all dotted across Europe now, one in Italy, one in Spain and I am here in Ireland. I often wonder how my mother feels about all of us being so far away, but that is a reality of life in Romania. She understood the sacrifice needed to progress in life.
We are regularly in touch and I returned to Romania recently to finally pay my respect to my father who died at the height of the pandemic. I could finally say goodbye to him and also check up on my mother-in-law. It was surreal to be back home again after a year of isolation. 
My mother made her living working in forestry. She was part of the conservation team that worked to protect Romania’s medieval forest and replenishing the land with trees. I think I get my love of nature from her. She was a restless soul who found her peace outdoors. I have always been a great believer in the restorative power of nature and I incorporate it into the routines of the children at the playschool. Parents often report back to me how their children would tell them about the things they learned that day like the word for ladybird or how to make a nest. I believe an appreciation for nature is something that will stay with you for life- nothing compares to the satisfaction I feel knowing I may be remembered for instilling that love in a child.  
One of the biggest contrasts between Ireland and Romania has to be the education system. My memories of school are of it being a harsh, austere place with no toys in the classroom and no posters adorning the walls. It was made clear that the sole reason you were there was to study. We were enrolled at the age of four, with only PE and music providing a break from the rigorous academic regime. 

 It certainly provided my children with an advantage when they came to Ireland. They were  originally streamed into a class lower than their age group to give them a chance to navigate the language barrier. My children adored their teachers and they always received glowing reports. They quickly surpassed all expectations and adapted to Irish life within three months they were moved back up a class.  
I decided to become a nurse when I returned to work after having my children. I trained in a small regional hospital that catered for a huge catchment area. I wasn’t used to seeing so much blood and so many people sick. To test your mettle, they placed trainees in different departments and rotated them to give you a taste of all aspects of care. My first stint was with the Accident and Emergency department. One memory I have as a fresh-faced trainee was being greeted by a woman who was in great distress and screaming for a doctor who was nowhere to be seen. She had already delivered a baby boy, and  I soon realised the severity of the situation as her other baby was on the way. Here I was, inexperienced and the only staff on hand to help this woman through her labour. 
In a situation like that, your fight or flight responses kick in.  I helped deliver her child despite having relatively no experience in that department. It was a blind capability and instinct that helped me that day. I’m happy to report both mother and both baby boy and girl were happy and healthy. The twins weighted ten pounds each.  I will remember that whole ordeal as it certainly provided a baptism of fire into the reality of healthcare in Romania. 

ADORES CHILDREN
I was eventually transferred to the paediatric unit. I absolutely loved the work and stayed put there. While the job was rewarding as I adore children, the nature of regional hospitals in Romania was that they were underfunded and lacking appropriate resources. This was demonstrated the night a nearby maternity unit caught fire. The scorched victims arrived at our unit which was already at overcapacity. Distraught parents flooded the wards begging for treatment for their poor children. We were in crisis and we lacked the adequate facilities to provide the number of skin grafts necessary to treat the volume of victims. 
 Fifty children needed urgent treatment that night and only four survived. The terror on the parents' faces and the horrific indescribable smell that filled the ward that night is forever marred in my memory.  
That is the joy of working in a playschool. You see happy and healthy children in this wonderful, positive environment. Despite initially thinking I’d continue nursing, I much prefer this career route. The loving atmosphere of my workplace is a far cry from the pain I witnessed in Romania. 
 I’m a great believer in positivity and encouragement when raising children. When I had my own, I wanted to make sure they felt valued and loved in a house filled with encouragement rather than judgment. I think that attitude is shared by the Irish education system. Here they never let a child fall behind. In Romania, if you fall behind you must repeat the year. Anyone with learning difficulties or additional requirements would be removed from mainstream school, which I believe is alienating and could potentially ruin someone’s childhood as they are placed in this stigmatising situation. 
 While Romania is attempting to modernise this old attitude towards education, I’m proud my children’s relationship with education was shaped here in Clonmel, as it has clearly stood testament to both of them. 
While the initial transition of moving was rough, it soon became clear we had made the right decision. Seeing the first Irish pay check come through the letterbox was surreal. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. The monthly salary in Romania as a nurse was about three hundred euros. Here, you could easily earn that in a week. 
Besides working, we mostly spend our weekends enjoying nature. I have a special love for walking around woodland areas and as a family, we enjoy taking on the numerous local trails. We also have an interesting hobby of foraging for mushrooms- don’t know it until you try it! 
Life here is much better as there is less stress. Before I was working days and nights. I was baffled by the idea that I don’t pay the teacher or the books for my children’s education. Even the uniform was provided by the school, I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. For the first month, it was just a shock after shock. 

An object can speak louder than any words. For me, it’s the traditional blouse embroidered by my grandmother. They are extremely delicate and passed down from generation to generation. It is worn with a traditional skirt. There are many of this kept in Romania, some passed down from generations and they would have been too delicate to transport. I hope my children will treasure this little piece of our family’s history interwoven in the delicate embroidery and the memories folded along each seam.
Through my work, I care for a lot of foreign children. I understand the difficulties they can encounter in this new, vibrant country and make an extra effort to try and make the transition a little bit easier for them. I make postcards for them with their mother tongue translation of the picture next to the English to help them relate the little understanding of words to this new and exciting language. I know they will grow up to be talented linguists, even if they didn’t have the advantage I had in understanding English before I moved here. 
While I always have smiled at the thoughts of people mistaking my children for being born and bred in Clonmel, I learned this year that it would become a reality. 
I started to experience terrible symptoms after my Covid vaccine. My symptoms were so worrying that they brought me into the hospital to figure out what was wrong. I was seen by countless doctors all puzzled as to what was causing my reaction. It wasn’t until the ultrasound the doctor informed me I was in fact pregnant- seventeen years after having my last child. While I was first in shock, I soon became overjoyed as I had always longed for another child however doctors had told me that just wasn’t possible. I had come to terms with it and accepted by lot. When they told me I went into total shock, after being told it was impossible.
This miracle will mean I have a chance to bring up a new child in my new home, and they will grow up with a mismatch of both Romanian and Irish culture. Romanian won’t be their first language, English will!  Clonmel will be their first home before I show them their family’s roots. 
While the exciting future lies ahead, I know for sure of one thing- my baby will have a beautiful sense of place here in Clonmel.

Aislinn Kelly - Journalism student, researcher and freelance writerOriginally from New Inn, Aislinn Kelly is a Journalism and New Media student at the University of Limerick, minoring in English Literature. She currently works as a researcher while also writing freelance and has appeared in the likes of The Farmers Journal, The Limerick Leader, and The Nationalist.

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