Disastrously heavy rains in south-western Moldova cause flooding and devastation for many rural families.

In recent weeks 3,000 people have been evacuated as the Prut River burst its banks after days of heavy rain. In one week alone, over 60 communities across 14 districts were flooded.

The worst affected district is Hincesti, where three villages are currently under water. Over 2,000 people from Nemteni, Cotul Morii and Obileni villages have now been evacuated from their flooded homes, including 417 children. All are now sheltering in local sports halls, kindergartens and schools in neighbouring villages. Reports also state the loss of one life, and one person who has disappeared.

According to local authorities, the flooding has damaged almost 2,000 hectares of farmland and orchards. Villages in the southern area of Moldova are still at risk. Crops, animals, poultry and whole livelihoods are lost – causing devastation for many families.

What MWB is doing
Teams from MWB Moldova have visited villagers to bring emergency aid. They have delivered mattresses, clothes, shoes, blankets and food. In spite of the shock of losing everything, the flood-victims were grateful for such basic goods. In addition, MWB-Moldova staff are voluntarily donating a day’s salary to support the flooded families, while the Moldovan Government has promised to build for the disaster victims 400 new homes before winter. It is a huge task.

What you can do

• Pray for the flood victims – for emergency aid to reach them and for their re-settlement.
• Pray for the Moldovan Government – for God to enable them to handle the disaster situation effectively.
• Donate – your cash donation is the best way to get help to victims of the Moldovan floods - contact your local MWB Office to help

Heavy rains have flooded out a considerable part of Albania, blocking roads, leaving many families homeless and damaging the crops and lands. Durres, Lezhe, Kruje and Kurbin are the most overly-flooded areas.

The Municipality of Durres sheltered some of the families at three hotels in town till the water will draw back. The national road from Lac to Shkodra, north of the capital Tirana, was blocked for many hours, creating long lines of cars. Several local roads were equally impassable. The Interior Ministry and the Emergency Staffs in the areas are gathered to take immediate measures to relieve the situation.

During October month, MWB’s MD Christian Input(CI) staff organized two 5 Days Clubs for the children in Calaras Home and in a special home for deaf children in Hirbovet.  In both Homes, the children and the teachers enjoyed attending the 5 Days Clubs very much.  While the CI staff presented the lessons, the children sang with great pleasure and befriended the 5 Days Club team.  The kids also listened to spiritual-educational stories which were presented through dramas and puppetry.  The Christian Input staff taught the lessons’ message in very simple words in order to be comprehensible to the children.
The goal of the 5 Days Clubs is to strengthen the relationships between the children, the Home Administration and 5 Days Club team.  Through these relationships of collaboration and friendship, the CI staff was able to teach the children the spiritual, emotional and educational principles for good behavior in society.  Every day, the 180 children, together with their educators and teachers attended and participated in the 5 Days Clubs’ activities.  The lessons covered the following topics:

• Never Give Up – David and Goliath
• People’s Submission to God – Daniel in the Lions’ Den
• Obedience to Parents, Teachers and God – Jonah
• Humbleness and Choosing Friends – Samson
• People’s Salvation and Love for Neighbors – Cain and Abel.

The following goals were set while choosing the themes:

• to enhance child’s self-esteem
• to present the Almighty and Loving God to children and teachers
• to promote respect, patience and love towards their neighbors in the children

The themes that were taught were very relevant and interesting because the children and teachers were very receptive, responded to questions and participated in the discussions.  Also the children, in their turn, displayed great interest in the 5 Days Clubs’ activities by asking questions, being active and eagerly waiting for further information.  On the last day of the 5 Day Club, the children were happy to receive Christian literature, biscuits and juice.
The seed was sown in the children’s hearts.  We leave them in God’s hands. May God bless them and help them to know His love towards them.

Dear Everyone,
The flu epidemic in Ukraine deepens and broadens its geographical scale.  After 4 days of quarantine in Ukraine, there have been 64 deaths from the ‘flu A/H1N1.  Quarantine has been declared for 3 weeks in all the educational establishments of Ukraine.  It is forbidden to move from one region to another region of Western Ukraine; this brings difficulties to our activities with the CRI Homes.
In November, we will not be able to have sponsors to Ukraine.  Seven persons from our staff are at home, sick with the common flu.
The government and President of Ukraine appealed for help to other countries with a request for medical commodities (vaccines, medications, mittens) and also to charity organizations to multiply their delivery of humanitarian help.
We don’t yet know the real situation in our country, but if I have any more information, I will inform you.  Please, pray for Ukraine!

With warmest regards
Mykola Bogdanets
MWB Ukraine

A message from Volodymyr Brychuk, one of our workers in Ukraine

“Every year our workers celebrate Easter in the Ukrainian Children’s Homes and Community Centres. A puppet theatre and songs about the Easter story makes it a very special day for everyone. Afterwards a lot of time is spent with the children many of whom love having their photo taken together. Lyuda, who works on emotional support and Inna who heads up our Bible Correspondence Course are particularly popular.
The children learn that the centre of Easter is not a bunny, nor painted egg, nor the special Ukrainian Easter pie.The centre of Easter Jesus who died for us, came back to life and now lives forever and welcomes anyone who would come to Him.
May God bless all the people who made it possible for us to conduct these events. All together we are working in the Lord’s Great Commission to “Go and teach….”

Si Jeni is a quarterly Christian newspaper sponsored by Mission Without Borders. It simply translates “How are you?” And it’s read by Christians and non-Christians alike.

Its great appeal is due to its variety of content and writing styles.

Both old and young write for it. There may be articles by ministers from churches across Albania, or impressions of foreigners living and working for missionary societies in Albania. All these different styles give the newspaper a freshness and make it more interesting, more human and lively.

We are very grateful for the hard work, co-operation and skills of all who make it what it is.

The distribution of Operation Christmas Love parcels is underway.  We have received three videos showing the work so far - one from Ukraine, Romania and Moldova.

This year we are aiming to distribute 30,000 parcels to some of the neediest people in Eastern Europe.  Each parcel is packed full of basic food supplies and some Christmas treats.  They are a real lifeline for many and bring hope to all that receive them.

Click here to watch the distribution in action - and please contact us if you would like to contribute towards Operation Christmas Love

On 26th November a new community centre was officially opened by the Mayor of Berat municipality, Fadil Nasufi.   Mission Without Borders, in partnership with the Free Evangelical Church, has made this possible and is continuing to provide financial, emotional and  spiritual support.

Berat lies to the south of Albania and well in land.   It dates back to before Christ.   Although it’s had an illustrious past,  Berat is now an impoverished town.

In his speech, Nasufi talked about the poverty there and the necessity of such a centre.  He thanked Mission Without Borders for this great opportunity, saying “A hot meal is always appreciated by those in need and without support.”

Dozens of needy people will benefit from the new Community Centre.   Included in these are the lonely and elderly, poor single parents who struggle to care for their family, street children, those with disabilities, and widows.

Everyone has a sad story to tell.    Not surprisingly their hearts have been hardened by their hardships.

It is our pray that the Lord will soften their hearts and bring hope and love back into their lives.

We have just learnt of a scam on a US-based web site that mentions Mission Without Borders.  It is supposed to be a recruitment advertisement for part-time Missionary jobs which seems to involve passing personal information to the scammers and the promise of large amounts of money for very little work each month!  We can assure you that these jobs have absolutely nothing to do with Mission Without Borders.  We have reported these advertisements to the web site hosts and to the relevant authorities.  Please do not be fooled by these scams: if in doubt, please call your local Mission Without Borders office

Many have died and over 20,000 thousand have been made homeless by devastating floods across Eastern Europe. 

Hundreds of towns and villages have been flooded as a result of 5 days of constant heavy rain.    People’s homes have been swept away in the deluge in Ukraine, Romania and Moldova.   Many houses in rural areas are made out of little more than mud and straw and cannot withstand the torents of the last week.

16 people have died in Ukraine, five of which are children.   In Romania there have been 4 deaths reported.  Thousands of kilometers of road are unusable and thousands of wells were destroyed.   In Moldova, wells have also become contaminated by the flood waters and many are left without drinking water.

Next year will see a tragic shortage of food as many crops have been destroyed by the waters.

And of course, it’s the poorest that will suffer the most.

Mission Without Borders is already bringing relief to the most vulnerable and helping them to bring about a better future.