Balabanesti Kindergarten School

Most every village we visit has a kindergarten school (daycare), and they are in need of the most basic classroom materials. This kindergarten is in the village of Balabanesti, Criuleni County. The school is about 40 years old. It was closed for 10 years before reopening again in 2003. There are a total of three buildings (not including a separate kitchen), in which two are in fair condition to be utilized. The school currently has 80 children between the ages of two and seven that attend. This kindergarten can not meet the needs of the village as many children are being turned away due to a lack of accommodations. The Mayor has replaced a few windows and doors, and a current project is underway to provide the school with running water. You will see in the pictures a silver container above the sinks. That is where they bring the water from the wells and put in these containers to wash their hands with. Used tables have been donated from the community, but many are broken and not able to be repaired. Each child is also required to bring a chair from home, many of which are big, old, or not suitable for school work. LDS Charities has been asked to help with table and chairs for this school. We were able to make a visit, and took Elder Cantlon and Elder Vandermark with us soon they could see village life. It was very touching for them to see the circumstances these children live in every day. Elder Cantlon was able to place a Book of Mormon with the librarian Lidia Zatic who will partner with us on this project. We are always amazed at the dedication of these special women in these schools. The Lord will bless them for watching over his children

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.

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!!!!

Ermoclia Kindergarten

We were asked by one of our NGO's (Lidia)to take a look at a kindergarten school and see if maybe we could help in some way. Lidia at one time was mayor of this village and had done many things to help her people. She brought gas to the village, and also water. She also started finding organizations to help renovate this kindergarten school. Lidia knew it would be a long day for us so she asked a Russian family to prepare lunch for us. They were very gracious and opened their home to us. They were one of the only homes that had bathroom facilities,(and we really needed it). We had a Moldovan lunch that included rabbit, mashed potatoes, pickled tomatoes, bread, sweet bread, homemade cottage cheese, and compoat to drink. After lunch we toured the kindergarten school. This school takes care of children ages 3-6. They have a waiting list of children that need to come to the school, but there is not enough room for them. Some wonderful renovations have been made, but there is so much more that needs to be done. The kitchen is in an awful condition. They need all new appliances, counter tops, sinks, etc. The laundry area needs to be completely redone. One interesting note, as I was talking to the lady that does the laundry, I said to her you have a very hard job because she has to wash everything by hand. Her reply was no this is not hard, its hard when I go home because my husband is very sick and disabled and that is very hard to bear. I could hardly keep my composure after talking with her. Thank heavens the children's bathroom facilities have been redone. You can see in the pictures the outhouse they were using before. The teachers still need facilities. They still use their outhouse! Every time we visit a place I am reminded not to whine!!! We are all so blessed. We hope that we can help this little school with some of their needs. My vote was for a washer for this poor woman that has to scrub all those sheets.

Clinic in Pitusca

Pitusca Clinic
The Pitusca Clininc is the local care center for about 7000 villagers in the surrounding area. This clinic is located about 50 kms from Chisinau. The one story buildings on this little complex today are mostly unusable. However, 2 doctors and 8 nurse's have set up shop hear and are trying to make it work. These people are truly amazing. These doctors still make house calls. They have a number of patients who are unable to get to the clinic, so they go to them. There is heating only in limited areas in the two building we saw. And most rooms are heated only if they are used.
Rodna and I got a call from a Peace Corps Volunteer and were asked to come out and make an assessment, which we did. They have no waiting room and so the hallway of an old school building is being used. Both sick and well mothers and children must wait here. There is no heat and the temperature when we visited was about 50 degrees. We are going to renovate an adjacent room to be used as a waiting room for the mothers and children. Our project will be to repair the roof, fix the ceiling, put in new windows and install a wood-burning stove for heat. We hope to have bids in next week. As LDS Charities, we are going to partner with the local community. We will buy the materials and they will provide the labor. (Rodna nearly fell through the floor as she was walking down the hallway) These floors are wood and are 40 years old. It seems like time has stood still in these remote villages over the last 40 years. You would have to see it to believe it. But Heavenly Father knows these wonderful people and so we have been sent there. It was truly a divine coincidence that we would find out about this place.