Moldova

Moldova is one of those countries that every one has heard of but no one is ever quite sure where it is on a map! Lying between Romania and Ukraine it is one of the poorest countries in Europe with an average wage of $250- but most on around $1- a day! Formerly part of the USSR it declared it’s independence in 1991 and changed it’s name from Moldavia to the Romanian spelling, Moldova.

Earlier this year there was an economic crisis following the disappearance of $1 billion in a banking scandal, a new government being sworn in under secretive circumstances and a growing budget gap. Just two weeks before we arrived the older citizens had just found out that they had lost their pensions and we would often see them out on the streets selling their wares to survive.

So how did we get here? We had been invited out to help with a camp for vulnerable girls – of all the girls trafficked through Cyprus, 50% come from Moldova. The group End Slavery Now suggests that “1 in every 100 has been trafficked to date.” The camp not only gave the girls practical skills like sewing but talks and discussions on the often used practises by traffickers.

Transnistria.

You won’t find it on a map and its not recognised by the UN! Yet this slither of land between the Dniester river and the Ukraine is home to 500,000, has a government, army and passport (that is not recognised outside of the territory). Transnistria proclaimed independence from Moldova in 1990 to remain part of the Soviet Union (who also don’t recognise the country). Sadly this has given rise to it being “a major haven for smuggling weapons and women” (Wall Street Journal). The good news – the only place I have heard of that doesn’t have a McDonalds!