by Brigid Rowlings, LHI Communications Director with Edu Furli, Director of Moldova Field Operations
The people of the small town of Basarabeasca, Moldova have opened their homes and their community center to over 700 Ukrainian refugees.
I didn’t know much about Moldova before joining the LHI team. Thanks to my now ten-year-old son’s fascination with geography a few years back, I knew it was a country sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine. Thanks to a nearby restaurant, I knew Moldovan cuisine is delectable. Now I know that Moldovans are some of the most amazing people in the world. Take, for example, this story from a tiny town in southern Moldova. It brought to mind a quote from Fred Rogers: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
Basarabeasca is a tiny town of around 7,000 people right on the border with Ukraine.
There are more than 700 Ukrainian refugees there. That is a ratio of 1 Ukrainian to every 10 native Basarabeascans. Basarabeasca has not received much financial help or humanitarian aid to help them support their new Ukrainian neighbors. Nonetheless, they have opened their doors wide to those in need. Most of the Ukrainian refugees are living with host families—that’s right, in the homes of ordinary townspeople.
Basarabeasca is not the only example of Moldovans helping their Ukrainian neighbors. Throughout Moldova, towns and organizations are pitching in. That is why LHI launched a small grants program. This program is based on the idea that local people and organizations in Moldova know what they need to assist refugees from Ukrainians. After all, Moldovans and Ukrainians enjoy a similar lifestyle, culture, and cuisine. However, Moldova is a resource-poor country, among the least wealthy in the region. Small grants from LHI can often make a big difference.
This is a map of where the recipients of the first and second round small grants are located. Since this map was created, LHI has awarded a third round of small grants to Moldovan organizations assisting Ukrainian refugees.
Edu and Oxana from the LHI Moldova team recently visited Basarabeasca, which received an LHI small grant. The town was so appreciative of the grant, which they used to provide warm clothing and food to Ukrainian people, that the mayor personally welcomed Edu and Oxana. They later visited what Edu described as “a truly beautiful, heart warming” community center where local people and refugees gather. They also quickly noticed that volunteers at the center were trying to do a lot with very little. They knew LHI could do more to help this community who was sharing so much of the little they had. They quickly worked with Irina from our partner in Moldova, Phoenix, to organize a delivery of material aid to Basarabeasca.
This is LHI doing what LHI does best: putting the human in humanitarian aid. Because we are small, and have teams on the ground in the places we work, we meet our beneficiaries and listen to them. Through our small grants program, we empower locals and help them meet needs quickly.
To learn more about our Ukraine emergency response efforts, including our Moldova small grants program, click here!