ORPHANAGES

Our volunteers visit Gymnasium Intenat Number 3, the large orphanage in Moldova’s capital Chisinau, in December and during the Spring. They celebrate with the children through skits, songs, games and team-building exercises while delivering our message of empowerment through education and self-esteem. A large portion of each visit is devoted to familiarizing the orphans with the dangers of human trafficking, and the schemes and tricks used by traffickers to lure and trap unsuspecting children.

computer programming, coding and electronics

Save the Orphans sponsors computer training sessions for children, focusing on orphans and other at-risk children. The sessions are held on weekends for a period of six months, and are taught by our volunteer Ion Gadarenco, who was raised in a Moldovan orphanage and developed his skills through scholarships. The sessions teach basic computer skills including: programming, coding, web site development, robotics, and electronics. The children develop their skills by working in teams on projects where getting to the finished product is challenging and requires creativity and teamwork. Ion’s goal is to pass along to his students the skills that have allowed him to break the cycle of poverty and abuse, enabling them to build a brighter future through the opportunities made possible by acquiring 21st Century skills.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES ‘BACK PACK pROGRAM’

Foster families and destitute families have difficulty providing basic supplies for their children’s schooling, and there are no Government programs to help.

Save the Orphans provides students from these families with school supplies and backpacks, along with school clothes, shoes, boots, hats and jackets to enable their children to take full advantage of their schooling.

Trafficking of orphans

Save the Orphans educates and provides assistance to protect the world’s most vulnerable from human traffickers.

Moldova has been targeted by human traffickers due to its poverty and high numbers of children without parental supervision. With little opportunity for teenagers to find employment, and without parental guidance, many feel they have no future and nowhere to go. With few skills and little hope for employment, these children are easily preyed upon by traffickers with false promises of jobs and travel. These circumstances often lead to children being lured into slavery in Asia, Russia, Turkey and the Middle East.

partnership with beginning of life

By partnering with Moldova-based groups like Beginning of Life (BOL), Save the Orphans fulfills its mission to reach as many of these teenagers as possible and empower them to change their lives through education and the development of life skills. Equally important is familiarizing children from an early age with the tricks and scams promoted by traffickers. This holistic approach employed by BOL begins with vulnerable children and families, and strives to address the physical, emotional, intellectual, and social needs of children who, for various reasons and circumstances, are being deprived of the opportunity to live and develop into a stable adulthood. Providing safe places to live, play, be educated, and learn life skills are important resources for these children. This process also reveals to the children that they are not alone, that each child has worth, and there are people to help them in facing life’s challenges.

SUMMER Programs

Save the Orphans sponsors summer programs for orphans, foster children and at-risk children in the Cricova and Soldanesti regions. These events combine group learning activities, team building, and problem-solving projects with outdoor sports activities. These activities are underscored with our self-empowerment and anti-trafficking messages. Our local Director Diana Todica (Cricova) and Pastor Vasile Surdu (Soldanesti) organize and oversee these programs.

These summer programs provide the children with a safe environment to learn and play, along with two meals each day. In this more open setting, the children feel they can more freely communicate. Many open up about past abuses they have suffered. These discussions and lessons help these children to face and overcome emotional obstacles in their lives.

Activities include hiking, volleyball and team competitions. Each team is responsible for preparing an evening presentation for the entire group. They are encouraged to act in skits, lead group games, and even learn songs in English. These activities develop teamwork, confidence and self-esteem.

The overall goal of these summer programs is for these children to feel loved and appreciated. At the conclusion, each participant receives a diploma and a tee shirt with the inscription “You Are Beautiful”.

VILLAGE OUTREACH, FOOD BAGS, FIREWOOD

Save the Orphans funds outreach programs in villages in the Cricova and Soldanesti areas for foster families and those caring for orphans and young children. These families live in severe poverty, some raising seven or more children. Through our outreach efforts, we provide:

• Large bags of groceries, food staples, hygiene products, and cleaning supplies several times each year;

• Lifesaving firewood deliveries for families to heat their homes through the winter months. Natural gas supplies have been cut and priced out of the reach of these impoverished families since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine;

• Christmas gifts, warm winter jackets, boots, and socks;

• Home improvements on a case-by-case basis to help the children stay warm in winter;

• Shelving for homes with no closets;

• Assistance for plowing and cultivating garden plots so that these families can grow fresh vegetables;

TRANSITIONAL HOMES

Save the Orphans partners with the Oak House, a transitional home in Chisinau where 22 college-age orphaned women live while attending, or preparing to attend, university. Oak House members participate in our Christmas and Spring orphanage visits. We also help fund the Oak House Christmas Caravan, where these women visit hospitals, schools, group homes, and other venues where they connect with orphans and at-risk children to deliver Christmas presents and new winter clothing.

In these visits, the young women sing songs, play games, and perform skits for the children while delivering our message of the importance of education, self-esteem, and awareness of human trafficking.

Save the Orphans also partners with Pastor Vasile Surdu in the village of Soldanesti supporting his after-school programs providing social orphans with meals and a place to study. Vasile and his wife Lucia currently oversee a transitional home for boys, which is a successor to their previous transitional home for girls.

Sponsorship

Save the Orphans supporters can provide a direct and regular stream of support for Elena’s family in Cricova through our sponsorship program. Elena is raising 13 children (ages 2-15). Five of the children have been raised by Elena since their mother (Elena’s sister) succumbed to cancer three years ago. Through designated donations, Save the Orphans provides food, school supplies, clothing, backpacks, shoes and boots to Elena’s family. Donations have also provided furniture and flooring for their home.