The Orphanage, Vascauti (Part Two)

GPRS internet only - pictures are pretty much out from here on in...

It has taken three days for the customs officers to finish the declarations on our giving. We have not been the ones going into the two nearby towns (to be ignored, have the power fail of us, or be told to return tomorrow) because of the language barrier, etc. but we have today finished painting the orphanage gate. So that is good news.

It is sad in many ways that it has been so complex to give to the orphanage this time around, because apparently it has been very stress-free when we have given through Compudava, the company with have links with through Norman Fraser, and Silvia’s husband, Vassily. Silvia has been a great force in getting things done, and she has worn herself out completely. All this being said, the director of the orphanage seems very pleased with the gifts and the assistant heads of the school seems excited about the craft materials.

Yesterday we saw about 30 of the children from the orphanage at their holiday camp. The camp itself is reminiscent of American summer camps that appear in Hollywood films, although the accommodation far more fun and quirky (small A-frame lodges) and the facilities, like everything are more or less run down. The children seemed pleased to see their assistant head of school. We told them that we had come from England in a big van (the younger children said they didn’t know where the UK would be on a map – we told them that most English people would not know where Moldova was!) and that we had brought them some sports equipment.

However, we later found out that the children had said to their teacher that they were unhappy and that they were not being treated the same as the other children on the camp. They asked her to take them home (to the orphanage) and asked “How big is these people’s van?” We only found this out much later, and it was so tragic as we had thought that the camp looked very good, and were positive about our look around. The director’s response was, I think very sage: “Whenever they go away they always say they want to come back.” Luckily, the vast majority of the children do have a place to go; to relatives, to friends, etc. over the break.

We also saw the boiler room, which, after much pressing, the director singled out as an area for great concern. Two of the three pumps that supply hot water to all the buildings in the orphanage are broken and sit on the floor. Two of the three boilers leak. There is a possibility of a gas pipe reaching Vascauti in the foreseeable future, but there is this winter to consider with what is now a failing heating system.

We leave tomorrow for Chisnau (“Kish-now”), the capital of Moldova with Silvia and Horia, to stay with them for an evening and see the city.