I’m 24. I came to Ireland last March (2023). The first month or two, I felt it was difficult to make friends. Even though the people I lived with were nice, they all had their friends. My roommates were much older; there was very little to talk about. I felt alone in the middle of a big new city.
Being part of the LGBTIQ community, I initially tried joining their meetings but soon realised our concerns were different. Mine were about safety and stability. How am I going to stay in Ireland? Can I work, can I study? How scared I was back home and here that people might find out and do something to me? Theirs were about making an impact, self-fulfilment, and raising awareness, as they were mostly European and Irish, things that I might think about later.
Then, I got to know about the IRC Youth Group. By participating in the Youth Group, I got to know about Ireland and made friends from different countries. Some had just arrived; others had been here a long time. Even though we had different levels of English, we could easily find topics to talk about. In summer, we would hang out, eat, play music, and play games. Those are the things we enjoyed back home. Finally, we had the time, the space, and the people to do them with here.
Apart from the friendships, IRC helped me with work placement. The experience improved my skills in working with people from different cultures and backgrounds and helped me get a job as an AI Annotator in an international tech firm. The job was my dream job before leaving my home country. Funny enough, that changed after meeting Natasha and Aoife (IRC Youth Workers). I now want to be there for other people who might be anxious coming to Ireland too. I’m studying Social Care now—a course I picked because IRC took us to YMCA, and Natasha helped me with the information I needed.
Name changed to protect his identity.