Last year Moldova experienced a terrible flood that washed away two villages, destroyed countless crops and made hundreds of Moldovans homeless.
Our amazing missionary friends Sister Toni and Elder Tom asked to visit the most devastated villages, which were coincidentally in my raion (town), to see if they could help in any way.
There we saw the full destruction of the flood, a whole years worth! The buildings were crumbling, there were dead trees everywhere some houses were still surrounded by water! This was an awful sight.
We visited the newly constructed houses that were built for the flood victims. But even after a year all the houses were still not built and many lacked many necessary resources like running water!
This community has only ONE well in its vicinity and the water is not drinkable. Most of the time the residence must walk down the hills and carry water back and forth to their houses.
Afterwards we went to see the victims that were still being housed in my town's university dormitories. There we found people who were struggling to find food and were overwhelmed by emotions when they talked about their lost lives. All they said they wanted was food.
Though Sister Toni and Tom do not regularly provide food aid as assistance they knew they couldn't walk away from these people in need. Hence Katie McNabb and I organized our very first food drop in our town! The 30 families in the dorms received potatoes, cucumbers, onions, oranges, and even frozen chickens! The VanWormers have decided that they wish to provide regular food supplies to our victims until they move into their new houses later in the year!
As for the residents at the new communities the VanWormers have also committed to providing the town with any necessary furniture and supplies they may need! They have also discussed a future water project with the town! These guys are amazing! Heres their blog link if you want to check out all the amazing things they are doing here in Moldova.
On a personal note:
I have always grown up with a deep sense of skepticism towards religious organizations providing humanitarian aid to people, I always thought, "Ok now what do you want?". I'd like to say now after living abroad and really working side by side with good religious people that truly just want nothing more than to help has completely rocked my world!
They have helped me become a more open-minded individual, this experience is changing everything! My faith in humanity is only growing, something I will always thank the Van Wormers for.
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