MOLDOVA

Face of a child (FOC) is a project that originated with Little Samaritan Missions (LSM) in North Carolina, that supports orphanages in Moldova. Our particular orphanage is in a small southern town called Popeasca. This particular project, (Popeasca) was started at White's Ferry Road (WFR) Church of Christ (COC) in 1999. Joanne Sutterfield discovered the orphanages, through LSM, and wanted to help. She started with small items and continued each year. JoAnne asked for someone to take the project and head it up in 2002. David Heath then became the project co-leader with Joanne.

The project provides clothing, school supplies, gifts and usable items to the children in the orphanages. The children in the orphanages are either orphans or their parents have placed them there because they cannot support them. The state is supposed to take care of the kids but being such a poor country that does not always happen. In fact if it were not for LSM some of the places would have no food or heat in the winter. LSM is the organization we work through. They are providers of the shipping containers and make sure the packages are ready for us when we arrive. The orphanages have poor sanitary conditions and there is no sewage system. School supplies are not provided. When we send supplies we try to make sure that each child has some and that it can last for a year.

In 2002 a group of 5 people went to Moldova for the first time (see their combined report). The result was fantastic. WFR COC really comes through when it comes to this project. The giving is wonderful and bountiful. The children are very excited and show their gratitude in their faces and actions. At some orphanages we ran out of packs. LSM had shoe boxes from the Samaritan Purse project. Each child received something.

Moldova happens to be THE POOREST country in Europe at the time. Moldova is controlled by a government that is still under communist control but does allow outside help with restrictions. At the present time we can deliver items that do not contradict the Roman Orthodox churches. In 2002 we gave bibles. In 2003 we gave diagrams of the plan of salvation - the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, in their own language. We were told that the 2003 material was too controversial. So in 2004-2005 we sent bibles in again.

January 2005 the children at Popeasca performed a play for us. It was a play depicting King Solomon and the dividing of the baby. How did that happen? They read the story in their bibles! They were so happy to see us. See the reports.

The 2004-2005 distribution ended up with over 6000 children receiving clothing, food, school supplies and many other necessities thanks to the efforts of LSM and the volunteers that help. This trip had many children that did not receive any packages due to shortages. This is normally created by the transition of children that are not there when the pictures are taken. Pictures are taken of each child and sent to the sponsoring congregations which in turn attempts to furnish products for each child.