The Moldova Project Creates Playrooms for Refugee Children from Ukraine
“Empowering the Ukrainians” Project Supports Refugee Families
Chisinau, Moldova (July 11, 2022) –The Moldova Project, which is part of the Public Association of the Republic of Moldova, has implemented the “Empowering the Ukrainians” project to support refugee children from Ukraine, with financial support from the global health and humanitarian organization Project HOPE.
The “Empowering the Ukrainians” project will provide around 700 refugee children from Ukraine with new playrooms where they can play, read and learn in the Temporary Accommodation Centre for Ukrainian refugees in Chisinau, Moldova. Each of the 12 playrooms will be equipped with new furniture, seating areas, board games, craft materials, stationery, children’s toys, TVs, and books in Ukrainian, Russian and Romanian. The playrooms will be open to all children from the care homes in Anenii Noi, Calarasi, Cimislia, Criuleni, Hincesti and Chisinau.
The aim of the project is to support refugee children and their parents and caregivers with educational integration and safe and friendly spaces. Being away from home, relatives and financial resources, people are more susceptible to depression, which can have an adverse impact on children. Teenagers from Ukraine are also extremely vulnerable, having to adapt to new living conditions with many missing a primary caregiver. The project will also provide at least 500 parents and caregivers with parental education and psychological counseling services.
Spaces like these have been shown to improve the emotional state of children. Previous projects from The Moldova Project have provided children from Moldovan villages with access to local playrooms to make friends, participate in joint activities, do art therapy and homework, or relax watching a movie.
The Moldova Project has been supporting refugees since the initial days of the war in Ukraine and continues to organize recreational and educational activities for children and to provide psychological and legal assistance to refugees with support from Project HOPE.
One of Project HOPE’s priority goals is to fund sustainable projects that target the mental and emotional health of families fleeing war. Within the framework of emergency response projects, Project HOPE works in close cooperation with the World Health Organization, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and other authorities.
Rabih Torbay, Project HOPE’s President and CEO, visited Ukraine after the invasion of the Russian army and witnessed the disaster there: “We must be conscientious about the long-term effects of war and trauma on families’ mental health and emotional well-being and remember that, unlike physical wounds, these injuries are not easily seen or stitched up. However, as soon as our rapid response teams deployed to Poland, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine, it became clear that we must prioritize mental health and psychosocial support for refugees, health workers and other affected populations.”
About Project HOPE:
With the mission to place power in the hands of local health workers to save lives around the world, Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian organization operating in more than 25 countries. Founded in 1958, we work side-by-side with local health systems to improve health and support community resilience. We work at the epicenter of today’s greatest health challenges, including infectious and chronic diseases; disasters and health crises; maternal, neonatal and child health; pandemic preparedness and response; mental health for health workers; and the policies that impact how health care is delivered. For more information, visit ProjectHOPE.org and follow us on Twitter @ProjectHOPEorg.
About The Moldova Project:
The Moldova Project is a non-governmental association that helps socially vulnerable families in rural Moldova overcome the state of chronic vulnerability and build long-term self-sufficiency so that their children can have a safer and happier childhood, and a better chance at becoming self-sufficient and healthy adults. For more information, visit TheMoldovaProject.org and follow us on Facebook @TheMoldovaProject.
