Cash for work program opens opportunities for Ukrainian refugees in Moldova
"I am grateful to the donors who make the cash-for-work program possible, and made our life more feasible", says Inga Ciocan, a Moldovan volunteer who help manage the Refugees Accommodation Center (RAC) in Cojusna, Moldova.
The program also aims to help refugees and host community meet their basic needs, such as food, shelter, and other essentials by providing them with assistance to cover these expenses while promoting social cohesion and cooperation between the two groups.
Through World Vision Korea’s support, World Vision’s Ukraine Crisis Response in Moldova can assist the families with cash, non-food items and facilitate activities that promote protection and mental health.
"I am also a social worker and the assistance I receive from the program to augment my income helps my family. I can hardly sustain the needs of my family with the increase in prices of food and basic utilities in Moldova," she adds.
As a volunteer-manager, she acts as a team leader coordinating for all the activities with the other volunteers. Since March 2022, more than 680 refugees have been served by the center. Currently, there are 96 refugees in the Cojusna Center, of which 43 are children.
Among the longest of the Ukrainian refugees is Tamara who started volunteering work in July 2022. She was born in Moldova and moved to Ukraine, where she lived for 35 years.
She fled from Kherson in Ukraine, through Odesa, with her daughter when the crisis started. "I didn't want to leave, but I worried about the security of my daughter. I decided to come to Moldova, where I used to live and I know the language”, "she says.
"Now my daughter is eight years old and started the second grade this year. I am very proud of her since she has integrated well and even started speaking Romanian fluently," she adds.
I am also a social worker and the assistance I receive from the cash for work program to augment my income helps my family.
Tamara and her daughter have nowhere to go back to in Ukraine. She has been thinking of living in Moldova permanently, even if the war stops.
World Vision’s Cash for Work program has assisted Tamara for their daily necessities such as food and hygiene. The refugees find the program reliable and practical since it gives them the freedom to choose and buy what they need.
Viktoria is another volunteer involved in the center. The money she gets are used for food and medicine for her children. "My child has allergy and is sick, I buy a lot of medicines for her. With the assistance, I can also buy clothes and food for us," she says.
Viktoria is a nurse, and her husband is still in Ukraine working a medic in the frontline. She moved from the Nikolaevsk region with her children to Moldova in May 2023 since the city's situation worsened.
"The situation in the city was terrible. The village has no water, and with the constant bombings, it was impossible for us to live there anymore," she shares.
Viktoria decided to leave Ukraine through Odesa and chose Moldova since it is closer and she is familiar with the language allowing her to facilitate the conversation.
"We did not want to go far in other countries. Many Ukrainians I know have moved here, so we talked, consulted, and decided to come to Moldova together," she concluded.
Since the Outbreak of the War in Ukraine, World Vision's Ukraine Crisis Response has helped over 1.4 million people with humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Romania, Moldova and Georgia.
Story and photos by Dan Munteanu, Communications Officer