Gift of Love
“Darul de Dragoste”
Republic of Moldova
A ‘Go Global’ mission from Hitchin Christian Centre
(GB Charity number: 1005126)
‘’Moldova is the poorest country in Europe’’
(source: DFID website)
Moldova is ranked 152 in the World Bank’s GNI per capita country ranking
66% of Moldova’s poor live in rural areas
Poverty ratios in small towns is over 30%
>25% of the economically active population have left the country in search of better opportunities abroad
About Hitchin Christian Centre
Hitchin Christian Centre (HCC) is a vibrant and creative community church in Bedford Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire. A member of the international Pentecostal denomination of the Church of God, HCC actively engages with community – in Hitchin, in Hertfordshire and globally.
About Go Global
As part of the global outreach strategy, HCC’s Go Global is actively engaged in world mission, supporting Tearfund and projects in Africa, Israel, South America.
Gift of Love, HCC’s own overseas mission in Republic of Moldova, is a Go Global project. Sharon Eason is HCC’s first overseas worker.
About Sharon Eason
Sharon is our full time worker in Moldova, totally reliant on voluntary contributions from family, friends and church colleagues. She has been living and working in Risipeni, Replublic of Moldova since early 2008 and has built relationships with the local people. She visits the elderly every week in their homes, providing home cooked meals and hot tea. Sharon also fetches their water from a well, cleans their homes and provides warm clothing and electric blankets for them in winter.
Sharon liaises with the Mayor of Risipeni and also the local churches whilst building and maintaining good relationships with the locals. She has also learned to speak the language, Romanian.
About Moldova
The Republic of Moldova is a small landlocked country in East Europe which once formed part of the Soviet Union.
It borders two main countries – Romania to the Western side and Ukraine to the East and North.
Some 175 kms south of the capital city Chisinau lies the Black Sea, to which Moldova has no access and therefore no ability to exploit the potential that access to sea and a coastline offers a country geographically, politically and economically.
The country has no major mineral resources such as gas or oil which is associated with other parts of the region.
In 1991, Moldova gained its independence from the Soviet Union and is now an internationally recognised Republic.
With a small population of around 4 millions, many people are forced to work overseas to earn money and send it back to their families back in Moldova. The World Bank suggests that over 25% of the economically active population has left the country to seek opportunities overseas.
Many consider Moldova as being the most underdeveloped country in Europe and, according to the UK’s DFID, the poorest.
With imports of electricity and gas from neighbouring countries, Moldova is effectively dependent on other nations to support its population. The UK’s DFID describe Moldova’s lack of natural resources as a ‘resource curse’.
Over 60% of the country’s poor live in rural areas. So although city living standards have improved, the improvement has scarcely been visible in the small towns and villages.
People & Economy
With years of Soviet control yet with an historical Romanian history, the people are used to both Russian and Romanian customs. In fact, both languages and alphabets are used in the country, with Russian being more prevalent in higher educated urban areas and Romanian prevailing in the country areas.
The Communist era of the USSR led to a great oppression of the people and their self-expression and self-determination. Consequently, a passive attitude has flourished amongst Moldovans and the people generally would rather have change enforced on them rather than make the changes themselves. The people are reluctant to defend their own rights.
With poverty so widespread, particularly in rural areas, people are generally left with a sense of no hope.
Some 40.7% of the labour force is engaged in agriculture, farming the land for both domestic and export sales.
Many rural people will also have their own allotments to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
The GNI per capita (Atlas method) is US$ 1260 per year, compared to the UK’s US$42740 per year, so the difference between two countries only 2200 kms apart is both shocking and alarming.
In rural areas, people do not have the luxury of hot and cold running water or plumbing for toilets. Rather, they are reliant on wells situated around the villages and have to walk there each day to get their water supply for washing and cooking. Typically, a return trip with water buckets is around 1 km.
Moldova in numbers
MOLDOVA / MOLDOVA in relation to UKPopulation / 4.3 millions / 15 times smaller
Land mass KM2 / 33.8 / 7 times smaller
The chart below clearly shows the gulf between the UK and Moldova, even though the countries are only 2200 kms apart.
GNI per capita, revised 2008Source: World Development Indicators, World Bank
Global position / GNI US$ Atlas method / Country
19 / 42740 / United Kingdom
115 / 3290 / Albania
123 / 2640 / Armenia
126 / 2550 / Ukraine
152 / 1260 / Bolivia
152 / 1260 / Moldova
AboutGift of Love
Gift of Love (Romanian: Darul de Dragoste) is the name of HCC’s overseas work in the Republic of Moldova.
Overseas worker Sharon Eason lives in Risipeni, a small village in western Moldova, close to the Romanian border.
Sharon lives in a former hotel which will be become the Community Centre for Risipeni and surrounding villages.
In order to enable hope to flourish in this community and to start events that will provide support, help and encouragement and facilitate change for the local people, the building must be first refurbished and brought up to the relevant health and safety standards.
The Vision
Sharon has worked with many elderly people in the villages of Risipeni and Bocsa visiting them twice a week, taking food, hot tea and helping them in their daily routines of making a fire, cleaning the house and washing their clothes. However, the most important role that Sharon has been able to bring to them is that of a loving friendship and a listening ear. They all have the same request for her to sit and talk to them as they have few visitors and are very lonely and sad. The majority do not have any contact with their families or children.
They have little money and therefore economise on fuel and food, rendering them vulnerable and at risk of hypothermia and malnutrition.
A community home would alleviate these problems but more importantly for them would provide a social aspect to their lives which is severely lacking at the moment.
The objectives are:
- To provide a rest home for single elderly people in the village. Giving them loving care and support whilst ensuring they maintain their independence, providing a loving community of friends for those who are lonely and abandoned by their families.
- To provide a day centre for the community that will be opened three days a week to serve those over 70 years. Providing lunch and companionship and other activities
Our project requirements are broken into 4 phases which are detailed below:
Phase #1
Dig a well for a water supply to the centre
Phase #2
Total refurbishment of the ground floor to include:-
- fully functional kitchen
- 5 cubicles to house the elderly from the village who are abandoned and very poor
- Bathroom with sit-down shower cubicle and two toilets
- A community area which will be open three days every week for luncheon club and other activities
Phase #3
Fully equip the Centre as a home for the elderly with soft furnishings, chairs, cupboards, blankets, sheets, crockery, clothing, commodes, washing machine and dryer etc.
Phase #4
To purchasechickens, a goat and a cow to help provide food for the Centre by way of eggs, cheese and milk.
Once these phases are completed, the Centre can open its doors to the elderly people and become a place where they can be loved and cared for in their last years. Importantly, they can gain the confidence and maintain their independence whilst enjoying an environment of love, stability, unity and friendship.
It is intended that the Centre is completed and ready for occupation by end September, 2009.
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