Ihor Ponomarov and Mikhail Pavloshii start a new life in Rácalmás
At the Hankook factory we greet each other with a big smile, and we naturally welcome our foreign colleagues who work here and whom we also try to introduce in the Hankook Quarter. In the previous issue, we introduced you to Tserenbat Budragchaa, who plays a special Mongolian stringed instrument called morin khuur. Now we want to bring a little closer to you our Ukrainian colleagues and their families.
Ukrainian Igor Ponomarov has been strengthening the Extruding Team in our factory since 2019. Like so many of his compatriots, he chose to work in Hungary to provide a better life for his family, but he didn’t expect that his wife and children would soon follow him and take refuge in Hankook House to escape the war.
“We arrived in March last year,” begins Alla, the wife, telling their story. “It took us three days to get to Lviv and from there by bus to Hungary. Our 10-year-old son Mark can continue his schooling online from here. His teacher is still giving lessons, so Mark can get a valid certificate. Teaching is sometimes interrupted due to power cuts or unfortunate bombings, but they always make up for it,” Alla told us about their new life.
Asked how the mother spends her time in Hungary, she smiled. “I’m grateful and lucky, because I managed to find a job at Hankook, I am working at the building process. My colleagues are very nice, we are constantly learning Hungarian from them, but there are many who already speak a word or two of Ukrainian,” she said.
Despite his good position, this is a very difficult time for Mark. “I miss my friends, my sister. I want to go home as soon as possible. I wish we could go on holiday again, carefree, by the Azov Sea,” he sighed sincerely.
Our colleague, Mikhail Pavlovshii, also joined our community in 2019, and he is also strengthening Hankook in the field of extruding. His wife and their six-year-old daughter, Viktoria, followed him to Hungary in March 2022.
“We love it here, the work is good, and now that my wife and me both work, we can save more. We would like to return to Ukraine when the situation allows, as we have a family and an apartment waiting for us back home, but unfortunately life there is not safe at the moment,” Mikhail said.
As we have learned, Viktoria goes to a Hungarian kindergarten. “She has easily settled into her new community, where she is learning to swim, skate and dance. She already speaks a little Hungarian. And we work in different shifts so we can take care of her,” she said, giving us a glimpse into their daily lives.
“In our free time we often walk along the riverbank and we also like to play sports. Nothing proves this better than winning the trophy in the tennis championship at last year’s Hankook Sports Day,” Mikhail boasted.
