On to Moldova

Well the Organix conference (youth leadership) was great... I met some awesome young people who are really emerging and wanting to help and change their country, and those around them.

It was a really good thing for me to see, it was a different side of Romania. The old communist influence, the fear and depression which is ingrained in the older generations from their darker days, isn't there in the young people. They seem to be the new hope of the country and its future.

They're just like normal teenagers and young adults, studying at University, trying to figure out what to do with their lives, they have iPhones and know all of the latest movies, they're into fashion and exploring the world- I even met a guy that had recently climbed one of the Carpathian Mountains with a group of friends. LOVE IT!

The conference was great, lots of wisdom imparted on the leadership side of things. And some great stories and examples of lessons learnt by those leading sessions. 

The three day conference was held out in the country, which was about and hour out of Oradea, a city in the north west of the country. I had a day to walk around and see the city a bit before leaving, and it seemed more modern and less restrictive than Bucharest had been somehow. The city centre was really quite beautiful with a canal running through the centre and a lot of old churches and synagogues. Kevin, Leanne and I managed to all meet up from our various travels within an hour of each other and got a bit of a mini-tour around with a local. I found the history most interesting, particularly about WWII and the darker side of the story. The city had once been populated with many Jews, who helped the city thrive, though many of these were evacuated to camps during the war. There were a few amazing old Jewish buildings, one in particular that was abandoned and falling down but had so much character about it... like it was defiantly still standing having seen humans, governments and regimes come and go.

The country was very different. Filled with small villages, horse and carts, old and young ploughing fields, haystack piles and small vineyards. It really was quite beautiful, though very dull brown because the earth is recovering from the harsh winter. Coming form New Zealand it’s hard to imagine the people get the produce they do from the ground… though I’ve heard the soil is particularly rich here.

I went for a few walks in the small village, and  was greeted by the locals each time, a smile in response to mine and “Bona Dimenatza” [good morning] in response to my own. I think just as it is in NZ, the country and small town folk are friendlier.

I got incredibly sick right after the conference, and was bed-ridden for the 20 hrs before the flight to Bucharest (where we were getting the Visa to fly to Moldova). I felt really bad because we went out for lunch at a local tavern as a goodbye for the three American speakers at the conference. I started feeling really sick during this time which was NOT FUN. Thankfully I woke up the morning of the flight (20hrs later) feeling normal again. Our trip back to Bucharest was fine, we flew over the mountains, which were a spectacular view.

The next two days were spent trying to get a visa for Leanne and I. We chased where “google maps” said the Moldovan Consul was… and it wasn’t, we then did a step-by-step (or By Numbers for you Navy folk) on getting to see someone at the Consul. That being: wait for the guard to tell you to go through the gate (15min), wait to ring the doorbell (10min) wait to open the door (5min) wait to see a human (10min)… only to be turned away and told we were too late that day and  needed to come back early in the morning to hand in paperwork… and to collect at 3pm (we needed to be at the airport at 4.25pm and the airport was a wee way away).

Eventually got it all though, and in the time inbetween got to explore “the Old Town” of Bucharest, which has a ,lot of French influence and is very beautiful (though very expensive) and got my shop ON at the large cheap Malls in the city. All round an excellent use of waiting time :)

We flew into Moldova that afternoon and it was dark by the time we reached the airport on the other side. We were picked up by two lovely American women/young ladies who have been at Stella’s house volunteering for between 3years and 7 months. Both very friendly and we shared stories of how each of us found ourselves all the way in Moldova, and Leanne and I got to hear a bit about the country from an outsiders perspective and about Stella’s house from those who live there. Really great women doing great things.

That night we moved into a very comfortable room (sharing a bed as always :) that is used by guests at Stella’s House. The building are really nice, and inside look just like big American plan houses, though the bedrooms have two bunks (princess style wooden frames) in each to house all the girls, with communal dining rooms and lounges, and a porch where they told us the eat outside in summer. The girls were happy and laughing and it really felt like a big family. Each girl we met had some kind of talent, either music or sewing/designing, painting or a dream for University etc. Most spoke really good English, which helped me in my poor Romanian.haha.

We hung out for a while in the lounge just chatting and seeing the girls before we decided to call it a night after the travelling etc. The next day I went for a wander around the houses, which seem to be in a wealthier street in the area… the rest is dirt roads and the cliché concrete apartment blocks that are everywhere here.

After that we headed into Chisinau (the biggest city in Moldova) to sign in with our Visa’s which was a drama where they first of all told us we had the wrong visa and I believe wanted us to pay for a different kind. Thankfully avoided.  Took a look around the large local markets which reminded me a lot of Asia, except the clothes were really expensive due to importing. The afternoon brought us to Providence, the Orphanage that was taken over by Phillip Cameron and his team. We saw pictures of what it did look like, with rotting and water leaking in the bedrooms and terrible bathrooms/toilet facilities, one shower (outside… which you can imagine in the snow in winter) which they would share between 5 orphans at a time. The American woman [Mia] who is like a big sister to the girls, told me it was the worst she’s seen in Moldova, which is obviously a big deal when you see how the normal people live. The comment was made that Phillip’s changes to the orphanges here made a big commotion, because for the first time during the winter, there were no deaths.

Playing the game "Heart" really fun team maze game :)

There are lots of stories to tell, so I think I’ll just tell one or two and then some more next blog. One of which is that the government wants to join the EU, but because they have too many poorly run orphanages, they won’t be accepted, so they have begun shutting them down. Most of the kids in the orphanages actually have living relatives, but they are just too poor, or abusive or alcoholics, so the children were sent to a “better place”. Shocking.

Two sisters in Stella’s house now was in this position, and the authorities begged her family to take her back though they didn’t want to her father said he would for 15 chickens (one girl) and 15 ducks (another). Obviously once he had these, he decided he didn’t want the girls, and sent them to their mother in the city, though she couldn’t take care of them/wouldn’t.

They now are in school, doing incredibly well and are happy normal teens… but you can’t help but wonder where they would be if not for divine intervention and those that care.

When the orphanage was taken over, with the vision to love and teach the children. The whole place was renovated and is now really wonderful, big play areas, bunk beds with colourful duvets (which the children make neatly each morning), clean separate bathrooms, spaces to play and a small playground by a field to play.

Me and Amy playing/tussling with the girls

Unfortunatley the Moldovan people do not trust that it is free, and think that there is a hidden agenda, because nothing is free in this country, and often those who appear nice and generous are the worst and are so corrupt. Many people (even that we have personally met) have told stories of those forcibly taken into either work, prositiution or taken for their organs (one girl we met actually began praying  and crying in the van she was taken in and for a reason she will never know, they stopped and dropped her on the side of the road in a forest… which saved her life).

The orphanage takes both orphans, children in child protection circumstances or those in abusive/harmful families. They also take care of very young mothers and their babies for half a year and help them to find a job. It is scary to see the young mother playing volleyball (like we did yesterday afternoon) with the rest of the kids (and blending in) and then  stopping mid-game because of a crying child nearby… they seem only children themselves.

One of the mothers here was left alone by her family very young, and so to survive began living with an older man at 14yrs, he was bad news and was stealing and horrible, and ended up killing a man and being sent to prison, leaving her pregnant and having a child at 16. Her little boy is the happiest smiling, bouncing little boy… but what a start to life.

Ok, I need to go play as they’re back from school now :)

More to come…