‘I felt out of place and isolated. My English and accent didn’t mix well’

Liliana Montoya was lonely when she first moved to Ireland. She had little English, her husband at the time worked abroad most of the week and she didn’t know how to make friends. This is where dance became important.

“I felt out of place and isolated. My English and accent didn’t mix well. I was desperate to know my people and every home was a distance from me. When I knew it was only pubs people were going to speak, with TVs on or radio. But I said no,” she says.

“I knew I needed to bring people to my house. We were dancing in front of the house in the park area with a nothing special musical system every Friday. Dance was the key to let me be myself and people accepted me. It didn’t matter the accent Liliana had, it didn’t matter that I was darker and they were white. I had that musical spirit and energy. So this was what people saw in me.”

Originally from Colombia, Montoya moved to Ireland in 2009. Her family had a car business in Medellín, but she relocated to Bogotá as an adult.

‘Ireland has given me lots of opportunity ... it’s a very accommodating society’

---

A Ukrainian teenager in Galway: ‘I love the Irish school system. It’s not that strict’

---

‘I came to Ireland in 2016. If I came in 2024 I wouldn’t survive because now the rents are like €3,000’

---

“I was living in Bogotá, but my family’s business [was] in Medellín. I was walking in the street alone and suddenly there were guns. I was absolutely ignorant about these type of things,” the 57-year-old says.

“Twice it happened to me. Someone, I don’t know who, took me and put me behind a safe counter. The solidarity of the people helping each other. That was the time in [the] 90s when our shopping centres exploded and killed civil people.”

That violence was what prompted her to leave her country. Her partner at the time worked in the oil business and was relocating to Canada. It seemed like a perfect option to her problems.

“He invited me to go with him to Canada because I didn’t want to live in Colombia. Canada offered a great opportunity for the kiddies. That was in 2007 when we left Colombia for Vancouver, where we lived for two years,” she adds.

Two years later, it was time for another relocation. This time, the move was more difficult. She made friends, lived in a beautiful part of the city.

“We came to Ireland and, to be honest, it was a mental shock. Because who wants to leave Vancouver? We were living in the best area. It was a dream. All our neighbours in Ireland said, ‘What are you doing here?’”

The couple bought a house in the countryside near Askeaton in Co Limerick. Here she used dance as a way to build a community.

“As [a] Colombian, I love to dance. If you are Colombian, you are a dancer. I decided to open the doors of my house and invite my female neighbours to join me on Fridays to dance and that’s how it all happened,” she says.

“We would have tea and we also began to take turns and organise to have lunch together. I got to know my community and interact with the families and found acceptance.”

Her marriage then ended, with her then husband moving to England. But Montoya decided to remain.

“After just a couple of years in Ireland, I learned not to worry too much because I received a lot of support from the families and it is here that I realised the importance of the community in Ireland. Another chapter in my life began,” she says.

I adore farmers. I treat farmers like Colombians. Colombian men are very macho and farmers are similar. They have time for their animals, they don’t bother me with difficult questions

“I learned about the colloquial ways to speak English and I started to enjoy all the good food in Ireland, especially milk and butter.”

The food is one of the similarities between Ireland and Colombia, Montoya says, as well as the love of the natural world.

“I adore farmers. I treat farmers like Colombians. Colombian men are very macho and farmers are similar. They have time for their animals, they don’t bother me with difficult questions. They keep light conversations around them, the animals, the prices in the market. This is quite similar in my country,” she explains.

“And the most beautiful landscapes. In Colombia, we have all types of fauna and forest. All of Ireland is green, full of people working in the land, soups. In Colombia we have thousands of types of soups, we love soup. Here, we have the stew. Food is very similar. We have very simple tastes in food, traditional dishes, and the landscapes and views are amazing.”

Montoya says she loves Irish people. She says she knew this as soon as she integrated in the community, particularly when she attended an Irish wedding for the first time.

“There were three days of celebration, each day had a meaning and a reason. On the day of the reception, we enjoyed a live band and a DJ. The music lasted until 5am, which I thought would be the end, but no – some of the wedding guests took out their instruments and we all gathered around them,” she says.

“Everyone knew the songs they played and sang along. It was terrific and I’ve been lucky to have been to a couple more of them.”

While she loved her new life in Ireland, work was an obstacle. She worked in a variety of jobs, from a nursing home to Starbucks. Having studied law in Colombia, Montoya moved to Dublin to restart her legal career. However, this was just before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down much of society.

That time of quiet allowed her to re-evaluate her career, with Montoya now teaching dance workshops in the local women’s centre in Leitrim, where she now lives with her partner.

As for the future, Leitrim, she says, has her heart. “Ireland is home now. When you are in a home in the country, with the community and the support, it is very hard to say goodbye. My future is in Ireland. We are Irish. We love it here.”

We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish