Destination Part Two: Vascauti

The orphanage that we have links with in Moldova is named Vascauti (pronounced "Vascoot")

We don’t know very much about this orphanage in particular, other than there are around 250 children aged 7-17. They live in large dormitories with little to no personal space, young with old.

This is not uncommon amongst the 63 children shelters in Moldova, in which 11,482 children across the country are living from birth until the age of 19.

There are serious, country-wide issues with:

• Shelter facilities – roofs, walls and doors that leak, lack of bedding, lack of hot water, or even cold water, lack of space to let the children outside, lack of toiletries and hygiene products.

• Illness in the orphanages – huge percentages of children have diseases of the nervous system, deformities or mental illness.

• The fact that young adults leaving these orphanage leave with little support, and few job prospects.

• The huge number of children who are not orphaned through parent death, but through the poverty-stricken Moldovan parents who leave the country by to find work.

(There is much more information at Clipa Siderala, who are a charity that are raising awareness about the state of children’s shelters in Moldova.)

When we go to Vascauti

We think we will do some painting of the walls in the orphanage, but we hope to go in a spirit of willingness to help in any small way we can, make some links with the orphanage, both staff and children, and to share something of who we are and where we come from.

We also plan to arrive (customs permitting!) with some sports, stationery and art equipment to give to the children, much of which was donated by our friends at Christ Church Ewell (http://www.christchurchewell.com/).

We leave in two days time, and things are still very relaxed here. Apart from the terrifying amount of declarative paperwork to be filled out, things to be weighed, and camping arrangements to be finalised. The relaxed bit may have been an exaggeration.