In the last couple of months our partners at The Wish in Moldova have been supporting 18 disabled children. Each one of them has a personalised care plan and has benefitted from speech therapy, ocupational therapy and specialist education to help them develop their thinking skills. Two thirds of the families come from rural areas. These areas are already poor, but having a disabled child usually makes it impossible for both parents to work. When a child isn’t able to go to school someone has to look after them. Those who live in the countryside also find it harder to access all kinds of services. Where possible, The Wish provides free transport. Very sadly, they can no longer offer this to everyone who needs it, which means some families are missing out.
Nadea is sixteen and has complex learning and physical disabilities. Her mother, Zamfir, is unable to take a regular job because Nadea needs full-time supervision. She occasionally takes translation work. Zamfir writes about their situation:
“Nadea didn’t go to kindergarten or school. When she was around children, she became aggressive, and cried continuously. I was afraid that she would never be able to be socialized given her diagnosis. The only way out of the house was and is the “Wish” center where she benefits from recuperative therapies. We enjoy together the progress and the results obtained step by step together with the team of specialists. As parents we are very involved in the recovery process, being guided and helped by the center’s specialists. Gradually, Nadea learned to communicate through non-verbal language. Since 2012, Nadea has been attending the “Wish” center 4 times a week, benefiting from their free transport services. We don’t have our own car, and Nadea doesn’t walk. When she was younger I would carry her in my arms. At the moment, since the last project implemented by The Wish was finished, we have no possibility to transport her to the rehabilitation services because the car from the center no longer comes due to lack of financial resources. As a parent, I hope that we will find a solution together with the center’s team to the problem of transportation, because Nadea is completely isolated from society. We would be very grateful to have this free service again as we are a family with a modest income.”
We are working hard to build up a community of supporters to help The Wish replace lost grant funding so they can serve more families. If you would like to help, you can donate below.
