A Westport woman is turning bags into books for Ukrainian refugees

When Kathy Kelm started sewing bags to support local Ukranian refugees living in Westport, she had no idea how popular they would be.
The idea for the bags came to Kathy after she moved from the American state of Maryland to Westport three-and-a-half years ago. She was eager to become part of the community right from the off, and although Covid delayed things, she eventually became a volunteer with Westport Welcomes Ukraine.
It was when she was trying to find activities for some of the older Ukranian women in our community that the idea came to her. The bags that she makes grew from that original concept, and to date, she has made nearly one hundred bags.
In the first instance, Kathy managed to source bolt-ends of material from an upholsterer in Co Clare, who gave her a very good price. She started making the bags from the hardwearing fabric, and after that, she began sourcing and funding the materials herself.
Since she started some months ago, Kathy’s creative flair has really taken root, and with her new sewing machine, ‘Shadow’, she now adds the label ‘Made In The Shadow Of Croagh Patrick’ as well as adding various decorative images and designs on one side of the bags.
The bags are sold by the Quayside Gallery down at Westport Quay and 100 percent of the money is then used by Neil Paul and Bríd Conroy of Tertulia bookshop (also on The Quay) for buying books for Ukranians in Westport. Neither the Quayside Gallery nor Tertulia Books take any money for doing this – they want to help in any way that they can.
Tertulia manages to sources books and dictionaries from Slovenia and the UK. The books are published in Ukranian and English for children (one picture, two sets of writing) and there are Ukranian/English dictionaries for adults. A lot of the volunteers who are part of Westport Welcomes Ukraine, including those who are Ukranian, distribute the books and dictionaries to the people who need them,
Many of the Ukranian refugees in Westport are now working and realise that learning English is the key to getting jobs as well as integrating into our local community. In addition to the books, many of them attend English classes at Mayo College as well as classes run by volunteers at other venues in town. Books are a huge help with this, and they are often easier to learn from, rather than using a tablet (apparently, the printed word is often easier for our brains to deal with than digital text).
But, back to the bags; Kathy told me that two of them have been shipped out to Australia and that tourists like to buy them as a souvenir of the time they spent in Westport. Certainly they are attractive, hardwearing and useful – a winning combination!
So, if you’d like to buy one of these lovely bags (they’re really good value for money), please go down to Quayside Gallery and pick out one of them for yourself. They would also make great Christmas presents, especially considering the thought that’s behind them and the genuine good that every purchase will do.

Westport Welcomes Ukraine
The volunteer group Westport Welcomes Ukraine was founded in April 2022 by Judy Casey and Mary O’Malley-Graham, around the time Ukrainian refugees fleeing the brutal war started arriving to the town.
Since joining the group, I’ve found it so very rewarding. Sometimes I feel at a loss when I can’t help them find accommodation, but we can help in many other ways.
On Saturday mornings, I help run English-language conversation classes at Westport Leisure Centre, who have been really good about letting us have a room for this. Two or three other people run similar classes in Mary Walsh’s Westport Physiotherapy & Acupuncture on Mill Street.
A lot of us volunteers are ‘link people’ for those staying in various refugee accommodations in Westport town. Some of the things that we do include providing lifts for them to medical appointments, helping them negotiate interactions with the likes of Intreo and Westdoc, or just chatting to them about their lives at home in Ukraine and those they’ve left behind. Our main focus is on helping them integrate into life here in Westport, on helping them feel welcome and supported in what we hope feels like a home away from home.

Ann Hogan has been volunteering with Westport Welcomes Ukraine since spring of 2022. To find out more information about the group, follow their page on Facebook, where anyone interested in joining the volunteers will also find the necessary contact details.