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Moldova and Me.

Thanks to Steph for a great blog.

Moldova has issues. Since most of you can relate to the harsh realities that face a dying Swaziland, I am going to use this small African country as a reference point. Moldova is the Swazi of Europe. It is the poorest country in Europe and the population is shrinking in record numbers. A few years ago, in this tiny agricultural, wine-gem land lived over 5 million people. Today, less than 4 million inhabit the country. What is happening?

“The wolf’s coat is just changing colors; but its heart or character still remains the same.” Communism fell in 1992, right? Well, in Moldova, communism is becoming relevant. Just like Christianity. It is changing faces, but still has the claws that that hold people down.  

In Moldova you cannot home school. That would promote the family, not society. 

 

There are over 60 orphanages or boarding schools in Moldova. Around 100-250 boys and girls live in each home.   When they finish the school at age 13-16 they are kicked out of the orphanage. They have no where to go and no one to go to; yet they cannot stay in the ‘home’ that they grew up in. I’ve heard that around 80% of the boys end up in prison and over 50% of the girls are trafficked as sex slaves or choose to enter the life of prostitution.

Economy is falling and everybody looks for work outside of Moldova. On average people get paid $100-$150/mo; yet their prices of living are the same of other European countries.

Human trafficking is a reality that lives in the eyes of abandoned kids. Every day it is estimated that 3-5 individuals are trafficked from Moldova to other countries (Istanbul is the hub). These are mainly moms in search of jobs to support their kids. Only they are tricked and sold to brothels. I talked MANY orphans whose parents have left the country for a better life or better jobs.  How many of these moms and dads ended up locked in rooms forced to service men all night long or forced to work 16 hour days in the dirtiest of dirty jobs?

 

Sometimes I wish truths would remain hidden in the shadows. Revelation brings responsibility that has the potential of lying heavy on the spirit for years to come. 

On the flip side, I love revealing truth. I love opening the eyes of those who are in the dark. I love introducing the forgotten one as the known one. Bringing “their” stories into the homes of Westerners. 

After this month, I had a self revelation. Why is it so difficult for me to settle down in one place and focus on one issue, one country, one people group? Do I have commitment issues? (Well, maybe, but that’s another story.) Am I addicted to travel? (Again, maybe a little, but that’s not really it either.)

I have seen too much. I have not been burdened and broken for only one country, or one issue or one ministry in particular. As a Christian, I am responsible for what I know. (Not responsible for playing God, but responsible to be the body!) Is the need necessarily the call? No; but the knowledge will constantly live in my mind and the emotion in my heart and the truth in my spirit…in the names and faces that I have met in Haiti, Peru, Malawi, Nicaragua, Thailand, China, Moldova, etc…  To settle down in one community, I am choosing that community; thus, by default, I am choosing to not act on all the other challenges and needs that still ring very true in my spirit. 

I might desire to live in Northern Thailand and work with the marginalized Karen, while I think of the women being trafficked from Moldova to Turkey.  I could live in the trash dump in Nicaragua while thinking of the kids in Cambodia eating food from the garbage. I could return to teach pastors in Malawi, knowing how thirsty university students in China and Vietnam are for truth. I could provide shoes for hundreds of kids in Swaziland while imagining barefoot children in Haiti. I could prepare cuey (guinea pig)with a local family in the Andes Mountains, but my heart could be making empanadas in a sleepy town on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. 

While this “philosophy” could be a bit skewed, it is a very real challenge that keeps me on the move daily. Yesterday I arrived in Romania; my 26^th country (or something like that). By June 19^th, the day I arrive back in America, that number will be around 35 (backpacking Western Europe). 

So, Moldova has issues. I did not know about them a week ago. You did not know them 5 minutes ago. But now I do; and so do you. Now, I am responsible. Now, you are responsible. What is the body going to do about it?

For the next week or two, I will be in Romania debriefing the squad and serving in a gypsy community. Then I head to Moldova for the rest of the race (mid-may) . Yes, Moldova stole part of my heart.