When the Elections are Over We'll finish...

Elections for local mayors is at the heighth of the campaigns so it appears that everything in Moldova stops during this time of elections. John Mulligan came from Frankfurt Germany and toured some water project sites and when he asked why the gravel drive had not been put in at the Firladeni water tower he was told that it would not get done until "after the elections".

Today we took John Mulligan to the closing of the Susleni nursing home project where we were donating kitchen equipment (sinks, refrig,steel tables, dishes, 40 liter cooking pots, etc)only to find that the remodeling of the kitchen had come to a standstill. We asked why they hadn't finished it like they said they would and we were told..."after the elections" they would come back and finish. John really got a laugh from that.
We went ahead and gave the nursing home all the equipment including the adult bibs and towels I had made. Then we went around and gave each of the residents gift bags with hats/scarves, goodies, and misc. items. They were so excited and happy. We hugged them all. Then we had a masa lunch with Tamara. I think John enjoyed being there.

John Mulligan, Area Welfare Manager from Frankfurt came to the closing. We presented the director, Dr. Tamara Soltan, with a Moldovan flag.

We gave gift bags with "Babushka scarves", treat bags, chapstick, lotion, tissues. This gal said she had no memory of EVER getting a gift before. She told us about loosing her 42 yr old daughter to breast cancer and asked if we would drive her into town to visit her 3 yr old grandson. We'll add that to the schedule asap.

Crocheting seat pads

Yippystemea and her cat Leeka

Sasha is blind. He got a new cap in his gift bag.

International Closing for Tirnova Children's TB Hospital

Today was a 12 hour day. We took the Mission President (Scott and Laurie Lundburg) and the Area Welfare Manager (John Mulligan), and our translator (Dorina Bejan) 3.5 hours north to attend the huge closing ceremony for the Tirnova Children's Hospital. It was quite a major celebration. All of the organizations, country representives, civic groups and government entities were there along with tons of press. The Prime Minister, Vlad Filat, even attended. The British Ambassadar and many other dignitaries were there. The US Ambassadar attended and his wife, Charla Chaudhery were the most honored guests though, because Charla was the real fire behind this project. It was her dream to have the horrible conditions these children were living in to be corrected. Millions of dollars later, many helping hands later it all came true. Our portion of the project was to install a new water tower and tank, water pump, and piping to the childrens dorms, school, and dining building. Finally-clean flowing water!

View of the dormatory rooms and well from the dining building.

Spring time with the trellis walkway between buildings

The shower room the 1.5 yr olds to 18 yr olds had to use. No electricity. No hot water.

The location of the shower room was at far end of the land with dirt/mud walkways to get there.

There were two outhouse building at the other end of the property

Previous bathroom conditions

Some of the people who came together to help. Ray West(center) and Charla Chaudhury (front row on right) spearheaded the project

Our rental car broke down when we had taken Silvia, the Ministery of Health Construction Engineer, to Tirnova to evaluate and approve the work being done. She had to hitchhike home.

The old brick water tower tank and the new one LDS Charities installed

The Swiss government built a building to put in the heat system for all the hospital buildings

New squat toilets installed in both dormatory buildings and the school

Clean water to the new bathrooms

Closing ceremony began with the US Ambassador and his wife and Moldova's Prime Minister Vlad Filat being welcomed with the traditional bread and salt

The Prime Minister and Charla Chaudhury giving the children attention after a loud "Buna Ziwa" from all the children greeted them

Vlad Filat: Moldova's Prime Minister

Some of the children. Sister Lundburg visited with the children after the ceremony

Inga (left) the journalist who promoted the project and Kate Shannon (right) the British Ambassador's wife

Victor Coravay, Elder & Sister VanWormer, Ranghi Kim. Leaders from Counterpart International who installed sewers

The children (especially the young girls) at the hospital wanted photos taken with the military

There was hugs masa (feast) afterwards

Europe Area Welfare Manager Visits Moldova!

John Mulligan came from Frankfurt Germany a day early to attend the Tirnova TB Hospital closing on May 26th. We picked him up from the airport and took him to see the villages and visit with Lidia our water contractor. She showed him the Firladeni water project then met with the mayor of Ursoraia and toured their water project and the school project we did for them. We even took John into a home that now had running water.
After touring various projects Lidia surprised us by presenting John and us both with beautiful vases shaped like splashing water and framed certificates of appreciation.

Sundresses & Flood Food Distributed

10 months ago the Prut River flooded several villages and destroyed their homes, gardens, and animals. The people lost everything-all possessions and all food. Many were moved into rundown dormatory building for emergency housing. Many organizations and countries have been assisting these villages by rebuilding the villages on higher ground and providing food and housing as they wait. We discovered last week that about 66 people are hungry because the food funding source has run out of money. So we decided that the funds we have available to help the flood victims can be used to help feed these people as they wait for their new homes to be completed.
Today we delivered food these very very grateful people. Three Peace Corp volunteers, Katie, Marlene, and Shannon, helped us get bulk vegetables, eggs, and frozen chickens from the Hincesti piata while we went to the Metro store (like our Sams Warehouse) and bought lots and lots of staples. Our car was so heavy that Tom was worried the wheels couldn't handle it. But we made it. We plan to go back every two weeks and deliver food. The numbers should decrease as they are able to move into their homes.
We also took the 12 little sundresses made by a Relief Society in Frankfurt Germany and gave them to the little girls. They put on the dresses while we waited for the piata vegetables to arrive. They were so darling as they twirled and twirled in their new little dresses.

Dora has taken on a leadership role in this project so we were glad her little girls got dresses

Darling girls in their new dresses

3 sisters

The folks began gathering as we were setting up in the dormatory lobby

140 Kilo onions, 140 kilo potatoes, 150 kilo rice, 32 bags buckwheat, salt, oil, pasta

Tomatoes and cucumbers a daily staple here

530 eggs, 212 oranges, 32 chickens, as well as cookies, mayonaise, tomatoe paste. Next delivery should have cabbages, carrots, butter, flour, sugar, etc.

We had extra eggs and onions that got scooped up immediately
A 15 year old girl was especially appreciative for the food
TThe children were precious-they really enjoyed the cookies we brought
A few came out to wave goodbye
Worn out but happy we went to lunch afterwards