Shoe Shop

While the Durrance’s, Jackson’s, and Culamore’s were here for the worldmade wheelchair assessment we were given a tour of the Society of the Disabled shoe factory to see how the disabled in this country are trying to help themselves. It was very fascinating to see how they made shoes from equipment that was 60 years old. Some of the sewing machines they are using where made in 1948. It was amazing to see how these people use what they have and the good quality of shoe they are able to produce. They employ 15 disabled people, and provide shoes for about 300 people a month. We decided this was a very worthy cause and are hoping to get 4 or 5 new sewing machines for this factory. They will be able to produce more shoes and also lower their prices because they can produce them faster. The quality should also improve. The ladies that are doing the sewing now are doing an amazing job. When they need a double stitch they are doing it all with just a single stitch machine. They have to be so precise in their sewing, and sew everything twice. Their glue room also needs better ventilation, but that is a problem we can’t solve.

Driving to Bucharest

Elder and Sora Hinson along with Elder and Sora Telford had a big adventure on March 13th. The Telford's had CES meetings in Bucharest and invited Fred and I to go with them. Neither of us had driven in Moldova or Romania since coming on our missions and were a little nervous about navigating the roads and traffic. We didn't want to go on the Harry Potter train again, and certainly not take a maxi taxi for 12 hours. So that left 1 option, drive! We had a GPS with us in the car and everything was great. We will probably drive again as long as we have GPS, or (Jill) with us. The highlight of the trip was to the biggest mall I have ever seen. We ate at Burger King, and the hamburger and fries were great! Nothing like greasy fast food. That night we took Fred to the Marriott Hotel for birthday dinner and dessert. It was a great get-a-way weekend.

Reliability Daycare Center Drochia

This little daycare takes us about 3 hours to drive to. It is located in the northern part of Moldova. They help 4 villages in their area. Their purpose is to help disabled children, especially those with physical handicaps. They help about 30 children at a time, and would help more if they had the room. There are about 1,000 children that are disabled in these villages. Most of these children are in wheelchairs and when the weather is bad and the roads are muddy and rutted they can't come for rehabilitation. There are 7 children that have never been to school, and these children are coming to this center to learn a skill. These are very poor families and this daycare tries to help make life easier. There are 8 people working without salaries to run this center. There is also a doctor, nurses, and teachers that volunteer time to the facility. They receive no support from the government. They provide physical therapy and other services. They also provide medicine for the poor. They also have terminally ill children (leukemia) that they provide services to. They also go to disabled patients home to provide services. They have 2 rooms that they use for activities and also physical therapy. There is no heat in this facility because the gas heat needs renovation. There is no wood or coal for a fireplace, and no money for electricity. This little center is a renovated house that was donated to the president of this facility. The president is also disabled (muscular dystrophy)and allot of the people in this area have this same disease. We hope to be able to help this daycare in some small way. There are just so many facilities just like this all throughout Moldova.

Ermoclia Water Project

A water system was installed in Ermoclia by the Soviet government in 1973. Ermoclia is a mainly agricultural community with a small factory that makes electrical wire currently employing 15 people (anticipate expanding to 100 employees), 2 schools (928 students), 7 businesses, and a primary care medical clinic. There are 4323 citizens of Ermoclia who are very poor and have not received any significant improvements, including clean water from their central government during the past 16 years. The water system is inoperative due to old rusted water lines and towers. There is no running water in any building in Ermoclia. All homes, businesses and public buildings withdraw water in buckets from shallow hand dug wells. In 2006 an outbreak of Hepatitis A acquired through drinking water caused illnesses in 114 people, mostly children. All survived. Water in Moldova has elevated levels of heavy metals, chlorine, bacteria, suspended solids and coliforms (bacteria including feces of man and other warm-blooded animals). Since then attention has been paid to purifying water when it is brought into the home and disinfecting the wells twice yearly. A water committee or association has been established to oversee the management of a clean water system, set fees and oversee individual home installation procedures with meters, and to maintain the system. Ermoclia has been working on an improved water plan since 2003. Elder and Sister Jacobs our predecessors started work on this water project in July 2008. Elder Hinson and I made our 1st trip to Ermoclia with Elder and Sister Jacobs in December, the 1st week we were here in Moldova. We met with Lidia Jubea the NGO that is partnering with the Church and community on this water project. Lidia has been a mayor of a local village and helped bring running water to her village. We made our second visit to Ermoclia to meet with the city council, Mayor, Lidia, and the contractor that will do the work on the project. Our third trip to Ermoclia was to meet in an open city council meeting where the entire village was invited to hear how clean water will be coming to their village, and what the community responsibility will be. On February 19, 2009 we were able to sign the water contract with Lidia Jubea and the Church to bring clean water to Ermoclia. Elder Hinson and I were present along with Elder and Sister Telford, Argentin our interpreter, and our representative from Turcan and Turcan (our law office). We are excited to go forward with this clean water project and hope by the end of the year Ermoclia has clean water.

Auxiliary Boarding School for Children with Cardio Vascular Problems

Fred and I were asked to take a look at this school for children with cardio vascular problems to see if we would be interested in partnering with Counterpart International (an NGO) to help with some renovations. The children who attend this school come from all over Moldova for rehabilitation. THis school provides boarding and education. This school has accommodations for 200 children, and there are 6,000 to 7,000 children in Moldova that need this kind of assistance. The school was started in 1977, and 5,000 children have used this facility since it opened. Most of the children come from low income families. The government provides funding for feeding, boarding, and treatment of the children. No funding is given for renovations. There have not been any major renovations since 1975. The Ambassador for the United States has toured this school and has taken a special interest in wanting some reparations made to this school. The physicians have made recommendations for the most necessary reparations. When Fred and I walked into this school, the smell almost knocked me over. Some of the bathrooms have had some renovations, but most need major renovations. The sewer system was not working well, and that is why the smell was so bad in the school. I think they get use to it, but it was hard for me to be there that day. So number 1 is they need restroom renovations. They also have a hard time cleaning these bathrooms because they are so broken and in disrepair. The paraffin room (this is a treatment they use) needs to be warm. The physical therapy room they need a place to store pharmaceuticals. Their doors all need replacing so the cold air doesn't come in from outside. I really want to see these bathrooms repaired so this school will at least smell better!!!!