Family in need

This is a family that lives in my site and is trying to build a new house. They have been refused aid by their government and now have to raise the money themselves. The cost of a new house in Moldova is roughly 140,000 lei or $13,000. The family has nine children (please remember that this is an Orthodox country and many families are deeply religious). Only four of the children are pictured here because the rest were either at school or working in the fields along with their mother when I visited with my host mom.

Here you can see some repairs that the family has tried to start. They are trying to chip away the old outside layer and put in new cement blocks. You can see where the dad is chipping away, that the old layer is made of mud and straw. There are also a few windows that were filled with this material because the family did not have the money for new windows after the old ones were no longer usable. They had to fill them with something to try to keep the cold out.

Above is the inside room of the outside wall where the boy is standing at the top. You can see the hole in the wall where light comes through. It is now October and starting to get very cold at night here, winter is fast approaching. This family does not have heat inside their house. Only the wealthier families in Moldova have gas heating. The rest use the traditional "sobas," theirs is pictured below.

Here is one of the boys next to his napping sister. The oven-looking thing next to her is the soba. The families in Moldova use them as heating sources in the winter and burn coal or wood or whatever else is available in them for warmth. This one is defective, however, leaving the family with no source of heat. In the next picture is the soba on the other side of the same wall. It is currently being used to store food because the family also has no kitchen.

The whole family, made up of eleven people, lives together in this little three roomed house. They eat on the floor or beds because they do not have a table or chairs. They share the three small beds.

My host mom is organizing a collection for them here in Moldova among the townspeople and through out the raion/county. I'm starting a Penny Wars in my classes to help raise the funds, and my family has already donated to them. I have set-up a PayPal account to collect funds from them; the donation button on the side of my blog will lead you to it. Please help this family build a new house. Please donate. Please alert your friends and family to this cause.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." -Anne Frank