Support 150 Tuberculosis Patients in Moldova

After long months of repair, Speranta Terrei once again welcomed Moldovan tuberculosis patients and Ukrainian refugees as well as guests to our Centre for Tuberculosis Patients in Balti. We thank our GlobalGiving donors for contributing to renovation and recovery following water damage. We are making up for lost time, lots of activity here.

Dr. Valerya is a top-notch pediatric immunologist, who examines patients at our Centre a few hours per week. Speranta Terrei offers medical care in cooperation with our partners, Healthy City and Friends of Moldova, with support from Church World Service. Eight-year old Andrei and his mother, Natalia, fled from war in their historic city on the Black Sea, Odessa. They live in a refugee center in Balti and Andrei attends school in Balti and follows an online Ukrainian school. His mother consulted Dr. Valerya about his prolonged cough, she diagnosed him with influenza and Speranta Terrei ordered medicine for him at a pharmacy. Andrei has recovered and returned to school.

Speranta Terrei welcomed international guests from Church World Service and Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a longstanding funder of Moldova’s tuberculosis (TB) control program. In November, Global Fund’s staff brought 7 European journalists, who interviewed TB patients and Ukrainian refugees we serve. Journalists Paul, Janneke, and Beatriz and Global Fund staff Jacquelyn accompanied moderator (treatment supporter), Angela, and psychologist, Valerii, to interview TB patients Ecaterina and Vladimir. Journalists asked Ecaterina and Vladimir how they were infected, how the treatment was carried out, and what their needs were. Ecaterina has multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and moves with difficulty due to spinal fracture surgery. Her answer to what Angela’s daily visits mean to her, “I live far from the dispensary, without Angela bringing TB medicine, I would have given up treatment long ago.”

Journalists Asa and Vincenzo interviewed Ljudmila and other Ukrainian refugees, asking them how they came to Balti, how they were received on Moldovan soil, what difficulties they encountered, and whether they would return to Ukraine when the war ended. This link has a story in Italian and video clips of Ljudmila and Vincenzo at Speranta Terrei’s Centre:  https://www.dire.it/08-11-2023/977026-moldavia-rifugiati-ucraini-odessa-speranta-terrei/ . Ljudmila says, “I would like to say a great thank you for the welcome we had here. When I came here…it was very scary in our city…it is still horrifying…I come here like to my family, because I can discuss, I can share…when you stay the whole day in your phone and watch scenes from the war, see how our people are dying, coming here you feel relieved, moreover we are offered medical assistance…I come to Dora Ivanova like to my dear mother.”

Speranta Terrei is honored to be a gathering place, where we welcome those in need and those whose contributions make it possible for us to serve those in need. All the while, our staff and moderators are giving community-based Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) to TB patients, such as Adrian, who lives in a small village in the northern district of Glodeni.

From the north of Moldova, we wish you and yours a happy New Year and with changes for the better; in Romanian, un An Nou fericit, cu schimbari spre bine!

Links:

• DiRE News Story