A project that provided warm clothes for hundreds of Moldovan children at the beginning of winter now bears fruit in more than just material ways.
Imagine a family with seven children all living together in a single room. The parents and some of the children share the one broken bed, while the other children sleep on top of the tile stove, which radiates heat from a fire set into the wall.
The father earns about 50 euros a month, which is not enough to make ends meet. Sometimes the mother can earn extra money through day jobs, but on such days the younger children, who are not yet in school, remain by themselves. Frustrated about his life, the father sometimes turns violent; on such occasions the mother runs away for a couple of days.
The older children receive a warm meal at the local day care centre, which is run by OM Moldova and a local church, but at home there often is no food and the children wear clothes that are dirty and insufficient for the cold temperatures.
For those living in desperate circumstances, like this family, winter is a time of great need. Parents struggle to put food on the table and there is no money to buy wood or clothes to keep their family warm in the bitter cold that grips Moldova in the winter months.
Year by year OM’s winter projects – providing food parcels, firewood and winter clothes – support the poorest of the poor. This family is just one of many who were blessed during the past winter.
“One day the local church leader came and took my children to the market in town, buying them winter boots and thick clothes,” said one mother, deeply touched by the gift of winter clothes provided for her children. “I started to cry when I saw my children dressed in these. Nobody has ever done anything like this for me, buying something for my children.”
In another home, the father remarked, “I did not believe that there is anybody who thinks of us. Thank you for bringing this joy to our children; they really did not have anything for winter.”
Sadly, it is not uncommon to meet children who wear sandals in freezing weather, who don't go to school because they don't have a coat, or who go inappropriately dressed and then suffer both from the cold and from being mocked by others. But for OM Moldova and local partnering churches, it was a great joy to bring relief.
Many churches also testified how this project helped build bridges and open homes and hearts. They shared about being invited back into people's homes, about children who started to regularly attend Sunday school, and parents who came to church and turned to God – all of this because they saw they were not forgotten. One father said, “Only the believers help.”
In the village of Lozova, three believers have been meeting as a tiny house church since summer. At the beginning of winter a small OM team started supporting this church and received money to buy winter clothes for 26 children from families in need.
They invited the families to attend church on a certain Sunday to receive the clothes, and about 15 families came. They listened attentively to the one-hour church service before picking up the clothes. Since then, around 15 adults have attended church meetings every Sunday.
Maybe some only attend because they hope for more material help, but seeds are still being sown. Others have open hearts and are earnestly seeking the truth. Several have asked for Bibles, which OM was happy to provide.