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Published: June 25th 2009
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Abandoned Apartment Blocs
in the middle of downtown Leova. Moldova, once part of Romania, has the unhappy distinction of being Europe's poorest country.
Historically, due to its strategic location on a route between Asia and Europe, Moldova was repeatedly invaded: Bastarns, Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Avars, Magyars and the Mongols all fought over this small country. Recently, the 1998 financial crisis in Russia, (Moldova's main economic partner at the time) produced an economic crisis in the country. The standard of living plunged, with 75%!o(MISSING)f population living
below the poverty line, while the economic disaster caused 600,000 people to eventually leave the country. The remaining population is mostly the very old and the very young, with few in between.
Thus we find the country today: not only the defunct and crumbling Soviet structures often seen in Romania, but even entire apartment blocs abandoned and empty. With no opportunity at home, anyone who is able to leaves the country to find work and hopefully, a better life. Remittances from Moldovans abroad account for almost 38%!o(MISSING)f Moldova's GDP, the second-highest percentage in the world. (Officially, Moldova's annual GDP is on the order of $1,000 per capita -that's only $1K per year per person- however, a significant part of the economy
Community Center
Inside a small house, this was previously the only non-Russian church in town. Now, Father Ioan has built a new church. goes unregistered due to corruption.)
But hidden in these statistics is a real tragedy. Another reason people (particularily women) leave is to escape an alcoholic husband or parent and the resulting domestic violence. Moldova also has a very serious problem with people trafficking. Because of the poverty and hardness of life here, vulnerable women are often entrapped into white slavery-young women and girls are easily exploited and taken to the West as sex workers. They are promised work, but given something else, something much worse. Often times they are given drugs and introduced into the sex work through addiction. There is actually a lot of heroin transported through Moldova on its way to Western Europe, and there is also an increasing amount of marijuana being grown in Moldova. Of course young people are drinking alcohol anyway, and the drugs are just complicating an already difficult situation. Combined with all the alcoholism, poverty and the lack of opportunity, it is a very bleak picture for the people in Moldova.
Please see the New York Times article for further information:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/05/080505fa_fact_finnegan
It is hard for us to imagine a society with so many mothers missing. In Leova, there is
Connie with children
I'm playing with some of the children Ioan and Mihaela take care of one school with 400 abandoned kids, and in Cupcui, a village near Leova there is another school with many more abandoned kids and orphans. More than 25% of the adult population of the country has left to try to find work. Often, mothers leave their children with a grandparent or neighbor and if something happens to these caretakers, or funds from abroad stop coming, the children are on the street. There is no child protective agency, welfare and few state orphanages.
I traveled to Moldova with Floyd Frantz and Christina Semon, Orthodox Christian missionaries. As many of you know, Floyd runs the St. Dimitrie program in Cluj, Romania (the capital of Transylvania). The first program of its' kind in Romania when Floyd began it about 10 years ago, it is both an alcohol and drug treatment program and an educational program for doctors, social workers, priests and others. Most of these professionals do not know that alcoholism is a disease and that recovery is possible. Floyd is now helping Father Ioan and his wife, Mihaela (who is a social worker) in Leova, Moldova start a similar program.
Father John and Mihaela run several critical programs on very limited
AA meeting room
with the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Recovery programs are totally new to Moldova, and alcoholism is rampant, adding to the misery. funds. These include:
I. Childrens Center “Saint Ioan Maximovici”: Activities to keep children in school, after school care (run in the Community Center)
II. Alcohol & Drug treatment program “Saint Dimitrie Basarabov”: AA and NA programs, addiction prevention, counseling. Floyd helped start this program and provides support, training and peer counsel programs. (Run in the Community Center)
III. Soup Kitchen “Social Cantina” Feeding the hungry, homeless and helpless.
IV. Community outreach programs: Collecting and distributing food & clothing to the poor; providing hope to the hopeless.
V. Running a “Family Type Children’s House’ within his own home, and helping nearby schools/orphanages.
Although Father Ioan and Mihaela are quite poor themselves, they do much to help those less fortunate than themselves. I was humbled by their selflessness, hard work and generosity. Even though they have 4 children themselves, they have taken in a number of homeless chldren and treat them with the same love and kindness as they treat their own children. In addition, they have built up a church, only the 2nd in Leova (the other is a Russian church). At first, this church was located in a small house (now the community center)
Father Ioan's car
in church driveway. He hauled all the rubble & bricks for the driveway in this little car. Note the Soup Kitchen on the right. . So many people packed inside for services, combined with the heat in summer, many fainted. Over the last few years, the community- with Father Ioan's direction and passion- has built a larger church, one cement block and one bag of sand at a time. Unemployed men donate their time and work on rickety wooden scaffolding several stories high, placing and plastering blocks by hand. This church provides a critical haven of order, peace and spirituality, and is also a positive force in the bleak life of the community. The pervasive feeling of hopelessness is one of the most oppressive elements to combat, and the church is a significant bright spot.
Many of the toys and other donations I collected in 2008 were designated for Father Ioan and his program. However, my shipper only ships to Romania, not to Moldova. Therefore, I have to ship to Iasi, a Romanian city close to the border of Moldova. Father Ioan must travel with his small car over the border to pick up the donations. This is difficult and costly for him as gas is about $5 per gallon and the border crossing fees are about $80. Therefore, the greatest need is
Outside the Community Center
Floyd, Ioan, Mihaela, Christina (L to R) for direct funding (donations by cash or check) to help him pick up donations already sent. (If you would like to help, please send your check, made out to Communities of Hope, and send it care of Connie Finch, PO Box 70, Cupertino, CA 95015. All donations are fully tax deductible as allowed by law and you will receive a receipt for tax purposes. Thank you in advance on behalf of the poor).
Next, Floyd, Christina and I will return to Cluj by way of some scenic mountain roads. Then, I'll be off to The Republic of Georgia to meet up with my husband Irakli. After almost a month, I can't wait to see him!
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Nottanya
Diamant
Please contact me
I read your blog and am very interested in your work. I am moving to Chisinau in August and will be working as a school teacher. I am very interested in helping with children in my free time. Thanks, Natanya Diamant Natanyaann at yahoo dot com