Places by the heat

“20 years ago, there was no old people's home in our area. Members from our church visited elderly people and looked after them. At that time, we only had electricity for a few hours a day. In winter, we often found elderly people who had frozen to death in their own homes. A few times I had to climb through the window into the homes of needy elderly people to help them because they couldn't open the front door.

Then came the day when I saw with my own eyes how an old lady was attacked by rats in her bedroom. We knew then: We had to do something. On December 15, 2004, we opened the first Christian retirement home in Moldova. It had room for eight people. But word got around and we had many calls and requests for us to take in more people.

In 2006, we bought the house next door, renovated it and took in another eight people. In 2008, the year of the great financial crisis, the need among the population was enormous. We started building a third retirement home for 50 people. There were many problems and obstacles to overcome. But God is faithful. We were able to open the new home in 2011. We were convinced that our capacities were now exhausted.

But we received calls every day, especially in winter, to take in an elderly woman here and an elderly man there. A few days ago, for example, we buried a man called Alex. We had found him half-dead in bed next to his wife, who had died of frostbite, and had taken him to the old people's home. That was nine or ten years ago. We are glad that we can help people like that. And we have seen many miracles over the years. More than 400 senior citizens have benefited from our pastoral care and many of them have given their lives to Jesus.

But the need is still huge. That's why we decided to expand the retirement home a few years ago. We are now building a brand new two-storey building with showers and toilets in every room. This will enable us to offer a better service to people who are mostly paralyzed, bedridden or have difficulty walking. An additional 88 places will be created. The new retirement home is due to open in spring 2025.”
This new building poses major challenges for our partners' church. Numerous projects such as the home for the disabled, food distribution, running the bakery, feeding and helping hundreds of children, taking in numerous refugees and transporting relief supplies to Ukraine demand a lot of resources and energy from them. AVC is heavily involved in the projects in Moldova, including the financing and construction of the retirement homes. Mission groups from Switzerland regularly lend a helping hand.