Care & Community Volunteer Stories, Moldova

Care in Moldova - Kerri Jang I have always been someone who loves helping others, and I have always had a desire to travel. Thus, I was ecstatic to learn that Projects Abroad could offer me an opportunity to satisfy both of these desires at the same time. I eventually made the decision to volunteer in Moldova, a country that I had never heard about. With no command of Romanian or Russian (the two main languages of the country), and not knowing what to expect, I was soon off on an exhausting 15 hour flight to Moldova.

Care in Moldova - Amelia Stevens My experience in Moldova was full of surprises in terms of language, culture, and people - just about everything! I am so glad I came to Moldova and I have learned so much including how incredibly friendly and generous Moldovan people are. I will remember forever the friends I made and I would love to return to Moldova. I really wish I had stayed longer.

Care in Moldova - Rebecca Pitt When I first looked into volunteering abroad, there was so many different organizations that I was very unsure of who to go with. However, after looking into it I decided that Projects Abroad were definitely the people that I wanted to go with. I found the people in the UK office extremely helpful and they were very willing to give me all the information about the countries I was thinking of traveling to. This help only increased after I applied to go away. I was regularly contacted by both staff in the UK and staff in Moldova. This allowed me to ask any questions I wanted and made both my parents and myself feel confident that this was a safe, well-organized trip.

Care in Moldova - Kate Watkins My daily life as a Care volunteer is a busy life and each day is sure to surprise me with a new experience - no two days are the same! My working week begins on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday and Thursday I volunteer in Bobocel Kindergarten (which is my host's Grandma's kindergarten) where I help teach English to children between 5 and 7 years old. I wake up at around 7am and have breakfast which varies every morning, but often I have bread, meat and cheese. I aim to leave the flat at 8:15am and it takes at least 30minutes to get to the kindergarten by maxi taxi, depending on the traffic.

Care & Community in Moldova - Steven Wrench Moldova is one of those countries that not many people know much about and most people may not have even heard of it. But all of that just adds to the mystery and appeal of it. Most people will spend their gap year travelling the world and going to places that everyone goes to, such as Thailand, Australia, Russia, etc. but not many people can actually say they've been to Moldova. Personally, I wouldn't have changed my project for anything. It has been the most rewarding and worthwhile thing I have ever done and would recommend it to anyone that asks about it.

Care & Community in Moldova - Christien de Kruif A warm privjet (welcome) from Chisinau (or Kishinev in Russian), the capital of small and friendly Moldova that's almost on the outskirts of Europe and tries hard to find a balance between its giant former partners (Russia and the Ukraine) and its inevitable future partner, the European Union. Moldova becomes an official border state when Romania joins the European Union next year.