Abbey Middleton, an Australian supporter, has been sponsoring Elizaveta P. in Moldova since 2014, through MWB’s Child Sponsorship program. In September 2018, whilst travelling to Europe, Abbey (and her Mum) decided to extend the trip to visit Moldova as well, to meet Abbey’s sponsored child for the first time. This is Abbey’s story:

“ It was really great to see some of the projects MWB support.  One of my favourite to see was the meals for the homeless (Street Mercy) and the elderly (Soup Kitchens). I thought how great it is for those people to receive meals when they have very little to nothing. What a difference it must make to their lives to be able to have a meal Monday to Friday. So fantastic that this is all done through the donations made from everyone sponsoring and donating to MWB!

The entire Moldovan team at the MWB office were all so welcoming and passionate about what they do. It was so great to see and made me realise how much behind the scenes work goes into all the projects and things that we see MWB produce and do. Amazing! 

The highlight of the trip for me was obviously being able to meet the gorgeous Elizaveta, my sponsored child. It was about a 3-4 hour car journey to her place. We were welcomed with a warm hug from her Aunty. Elizaveta and her 4 siblings have been adopted by her Aunty (her mother’s sister), who also has 4 children of her own. We sat in their living area, which also was a bedroom, and chatted. Lilia was so great with her translating and made it so much easier. Elizaveta was very quiet and shy, understandably, but sat next to me the whole time. I had bought her a gift bag which had some special girly things in it and Mum and I also bought some groceries for the family, which was greatly received. It was hard to go, I could have easily stayed longer, but was so nice to know Elizaveta and the rest of the family were in such good, loving care. "

Her mum Jill shared, “Abbey & I were so moved to see how much Sergei (MWB Coordinator) is loved by the boys at the school where Abbey's sponsored child goes. As soon as we came in the gates, they would come up to him so genuinely happy to see him, & hug him & chat to him - & he with them,  happy to spend the time.   He told us how MWB are very involved in the school - different programmes, summer camps..& the children just soak up these opportunities. Wonderful.”