Orphans and abandoned children

In Moldova, Europe’s poorest nation, unemployment and economic problems have led to widespread poverty and low living standards. Some parents send their children to orphanages because they do not have the income to look after them, while others travel to Russia or Western Europe seeking higher paying jobs. This means there are now at least

7,000 children in institutions in Moldova, but only 2% are actual orphans.

Our consignee is seeking to improve the lives of these children by placing them in safe environments where they can grow in maturity and self-reliance. The organisation works alongside orphanages and outreach centres, identifying homeless children and placing them with foster families where they receive the care and attention they deserve. They also provide jobs locally to help with the problem of unemployment, particularly amongst ex-orphanage young people, and to help young women avoid the dangers of being trafficked into the sex trade.

Potential impact:

• The chance for many more children to have foster parents
• Clothing and essentials for hundreds in the local community

Shipment includes:

• Clothing and household goods for local communities
• Educational supplies for orphanages and local schools.

Tanya has a smile on her face nowadays, and her future looks bright. She was fostered by a teacher in the local school at the age of 12, and is now an articulate and well cared for teenager. It could have been so different. Her alcoholic mother left home to live with her boyfriend, leaving Tanya (12) and her brother (13) utterly alone, living in poverty in a village in Transnistria. In winter, it was so cold that they would stay in bed together all day, just to keep warm. After her brother was hit by a car and killed, Tanya was left devastated in a filthy home with no running water or heating. Her life was literally saved by her foster mother, despite the family’s own poverty. The NGO organised volunteers to extend the family home, and they provided hygiene items, clothing, and extra necessities to the family to help with the burden of a new child. Sadly, there are many other disadvantaged children like Tanya, and shipments to Moldova provide goods which are a lifeline to foster families.

For many children, life in an orphanage is better than life with abusive or neglectful parents. Care from foster parents is even better. Shipments like this one, with household goods and school supplies support these children and foster families.

Children in foster families and orphanages received shoes, clothing, stationery and toys from Crossroads’ previous shipment.

Some of Transnistria’s poorest live in rundown dwellings like this. Our partners found children living alone in broken houses, suffering particularly through cold winters.