Our trustee's visit to Moldova

Moldova Aid Project chairwoman Debbie visited Moldova as the lorry arrived.

She saw beds, mattresses, baby baths and other equipment previously delivered by the charity in use at the Hospital of the Mother and Child in Chisinau.

When the latest donations were unloaded one of the first things the doctors did was to set up seating given by Axminster Hospital, Devon, in the waiting area of the neurology department. Until now parents with sick babies have had to stand while awaiting appointments.

Paper is expensive in Moldova and doctors have to use part of their small wages to buy supplies. In the past they have even written patient notes on the reverse of used scraps of paper. Now the hospital has six computers and 46,000 sheets of A4 paper donated through MAP.

The hospital's head of neurology, Anatolie Boboc, said "A very big thank you" for the new supplies.

At the orphanage in Hincesti, giggling girls showed Debbie the embroidery they had made using materials sent by MAP. One woman resident, who had been teaching the other girls, had been able to sell some of her work and buy herself an extra blanket and a patterned rug which now hangs over her bed as is traditional in Moldovan homes.

The orphanage seemed in a better state than on previous visits partly because some scarce government funding had enabled it to make repairs. The orphanage has also started to farm its own land as it did in Soviet times. About 30 per cent of its food is now grown on site.

21 February 2002