Moldova Has Officially Stolen My Heart

Phew. I don't know what else to say except...PHEW.

The last couple of weeks have been crazy, confusing, tiring, sweaty, crazy...did I say crazy? But 

I wouldn't trade places with anyone right now.

Before I tell you all what's going on, I wanted to say a big thank you to all the people who have been involved in supporting me these last few months, and who are continuing to support me over the next year. You'll be glad to know it's all been 100% worth it!

So where do I start?

For a few days before I left, although I was excited, I was also nervous. All of these questions kept popping up like, 'What if I don't fit in there?' or 'What if it turns out I'm completely useless to Stella's Voice and just spend a year eating their food and being a pain in the bum?', or even, 'What if I puke on somebody on the plane? What if someone pukes on me?!'

And they were all stupid, stupid questions, as it turns out. You'll be happy to know I didn't hurl on anyone, and these are the first things I saw when I got to my room on the first night:

And when I saw these something inside me just clicked. I knew that this was the right place for me to be. I stopped worrying, and started getting excited about spending time with these funny, crazy girls. It's tough, I won't lie, because my Romanian is still terrible and some of the new girls speak almost no English. But we're getting there!

My girls!

A few days after I arrived, we set off for Providence. I could have gone with the lovely Liuda in the van, but no, the girls decided I needed the real Moldovan experience: TAKING THE BUS.

When I say bus, I use that term loosely. They're actually mini-buses, and most of them don't have windows that open. They're more like small, stuffy metal boxes, and the roads here are mostly potholes...and smaller potholes. I think they were actually hoping that I'd freak out or sweat into a puddle, but I survived.

There are no words to accurately describe what came after that. Every year the girls and guys at Stella's Voice host a summer camp for the local children in Cupcui. It's a great chance for them to laugh, play, eat, to just be children, and not worry about anything else. When we visited last year the camp was on, and I was impressed with how much energy the older guys had. It seemed like they never really stopped to rest.

I think someone has a fan-club...

This year I got to see what it was like from their perspective, and I was even more blown away by the sheer amount of energy they devoted to the children. Every day they'd be up early, playing with the kids until breakfast. After that they'd put on a sketch, and teach them songs about Jesus. Then there would be games outside, lunch, more games, maybe a movie, dinner, MORE GAMES, and the boys would somehow still find time to play a football match with the locals. Then in the evening they'd put on MORE drama, play videos, games, you name it. And this was all in stifling heat. By the end of the first day I was ready to drop. But that's the crazy thing about the Stella's Voice girls and boys: they just keep going!

I won't lie - when three clowns burst in through the door I did almost poop my pants. The kids loved it though!

I asked one of the older guys why he loves working at the kids' camp so much, and his answer was pretty simple: 'I do it for God.'

And I thank God for every single one of them. I don't even want to think about where they'd be if it weren't for this ministry. But there are so many others like them, without hope, without friends or a family. That's why I love these kids, why I love this ministry. Because they will not stop, no matter what, until every orphan is saved, until every scared, lonely teenager is offered the hope of Stella and Simon's House, and told about this Jesus person that loved them when it seemed like no one else in the world did.

I really don't know if a year will be enough! We'll just have to wait and see...

Just a Drop in the Ocean

“Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it.”

“Well, why don’t you ask Him?”

“Because I’m afraid He would ask me the same question.”

A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend, and she was so frustrated because she sees the world suffering, she sees people in agony and poverty, she wants to help those people...but she has no idea where to start.

It can be completely overwhelming to see what's going on in the world, and it's infuriating to know that no one human being can fix it all. Sometimes it feels like whatever we can do is just a drop in the ocean.

But I've got news for you: one drop of water can become part of a tidal wave, if it's in the right place.

It might be tempting to think 'I can't do much, so I'll just leave it to the experts', but it's that kind of poisonous thinking that has led to so much suffering already. 

If it were your family living on the streets, your friends being sold into slavery, even you yourself, would your attitude be the same?

That's why Stella's Voice is so important to me. They've seen the desperation in a teenage girl's eyes as she waits outside her old orphanage, with nowhere to go, no food, no home, and no hope. And they've decided to do something about it.

So if you've ever felt at a loss, desperate to make a change for the good, but with no idea how, I have a really simple solution:

Get involved with Stella's Voice. 

Give money, or if you don't have money, promote them, retweet, share posts, tell your friends, tell your schools, tell co-workers, hold fundraisers, pray, tell everyone you can about what's happening in Moldova.

Because they're making things happen.

Stella's Voice

If you haven't heard me mention Stella's Voice already (where the heck have you been?), then let me tell you something: if you have any desire whatsoever to do some good in this world, then you need to hear about this organisation. I avoid saying 'charity' because to me it sounds a bit detached, which this group is anything but.

The Situation

In Moldova today, there is one thing you do not want to be, and that is an orphan. If you are, it's pretty likely that you'll grow up being told you're worthless, that no one loves you, that no one wants you, that you have no future, that you're a burden. Or even worse, you might not grow up at all.

These children have never seen a flushing toilet. They have never slept in a warm bed, or been given food without having to literally fight for it. During the winter, with no double glazing or heating, temperatures drop well below freezing, and tragically, it's common for children and babies to freeze to death.

If a child does survive these conditions, it gets worse. They will be kicked out of the orphanage with the equivalent to thirty dollars, and from then on, they're alone. And that's when traffickers strike.

In Moldova, 20% of women are sold into slavery. That in itself is truly horrifying. Imagine knowing that one in five of the girls you know could be kidnapped and sold as a sex worker. It doesn't bear thinking about, does it?

But for children in Moldova it's a very real danger. Usually for girls, slavery means being forced to have sex with any number of men a day, contracting STIs and HIV. For young men, this is also a possibility, but more likely they'll be forced into manual labour and worked to death.


There are no words, really that can express the horrors that these kids face. It all falls short.


Stella's Voice

In 1992, Philip Cameron visited an orphanage where he was told that in December alone, 16 children had died from the cold. He quickly raised the money to replace the windows and install heating in the building.

But it wasn't enough.

Now, twenty years later, there are fifty-three young girls in Stella's House, 12 young men in Simon's House, and by the summer those numbers will have doubled!

Amazingly, these houses are not just youth hostels or somewhere temporary for the kids to stay while they get on their feet. 

They are a home.

Visiting last year, I couldn't believe how beautiful and comfortable the houses were. There was nothing temporary about it. The kitchens were huge, the bedrooms were a little bit messy, the living room was always full of music and laughter. The girls were so happy and at ease there, because they knew that they were safe but above all, they were loved. Stella's Voice is incredible, because they aren't just a charity. They're a family.

When a child joins Stella's Voice, they are loved unconditionally from the get-go. Instead of being called worthless, they're told 'If you are born, God has a plan'. They're nurtured, and told that they can do anything. They call Philip and Chrissie 'Mum and Dad'.

In 2011, Philip bought an orphanage, refurbished it and began to move children in. I remember walking through the corridors of Providence last summer, being shown all of the rooms and just wanting to cry. Instead of mattresses on the floor, there were warm beds piled with colourful duvets and toys. Instead of moldy walls, there were finger paintings and butterflies. Thinking about what I grew up with, about everything my brother and sister have had, I started to realise just how much we'd taken for granted.

The kids aren't world-weary or tired, they're not afraid of their past or scared of the future. In fact they are (older ones included!) powerhouses of energy. You sit down for a break, and they just move on to the next game. And they never stop smiling. It's the kind of genuine happiness that you don't see often in our society.

And that's why I want to work with Stella's Voice. There are still so many babies going without food, without warmth, without anyone to just cuddle them and tell them 'I love you'.

That has to end.

There's no question about it. It may be a mammoth task, but seeing all that Stella's Voice has done and continue to do, I fully believe it can and will happen. One day, every orphan in Moldova will have a family, and know that they are loved unconditionally.

What Stella's Voice need the most is money. Building and maintaining houses, sending the kids to school and university, feeding them, keeping them warm all adds up to a LOT, as you can imagine.

To donate or find out more, visit the website

Or get updates on Twitter and Facebook

The Beginning of the End...

Over the past few weeks, a growing sense of dread and excitement has been building in the Kingston University Campus.

In the canteen over chips, across desks in the library, third years are fearfully whispering the G word...

Graduation.

Will I pass? Will I pass with a first? Will I pass with something slightly less than I wanted and still be OK with it? What if I fail? If I do pass, how soon do I need to think about getting a job? How long can I stay at my parents' house before they start dropping 'subtle hints' about moving out? Should I just suck it up and do an MA?

Yes, it's a pretty stressful time. And it does tend to bring out the best and worst in all of us. But maybe it's worth taking a step back for a second, and looking at your life. The next few months are going to be stressful as hell, yes. But they're a tiny blip in the grand scheme of your exciting new life!

I'm going to be leaving university with a degree in Creative Writing and English Literature. From the world's perspective, that means I'm pretty limited career-wise. But who cares what the world thinks? At first I was worried. People would ask me 'what do you want to do after university?' and my answer was usually vague and along the lines of 

'Anything that involves writing'. 

Which was true enough. But every time I said it, I felt more dissatisfied. What do I really want? 

Well, I want to write novels, but that's difficult and not exactly the easiest way to make money. I started to think it was a stupid, unrealistic idea. But the thing is, have someone pretty big on my side. And I know you're probably already thinking 'Oh great it's getting preachy', but how could I believe in God and not talk about Him? He inspires me. He drives me to work harder, to dream bigger, to actually imagine that I could achieve things that other people might call impossible. Without Him, I probably will be working a boring desk job in the corner office, wishing I was somewhere else. So I started praying - yes, praying - that God would give me something to do after graduation.

Something that would inspire me, that would give me the chance to grow, but more than that, something that wouldn't be just about ME. I've spent four years of my life thinking about my degree, my grades, my money, my relationships. It's time to change the focus.

And that brings me to the

In a few months' time, I will be going to work with Stella's Voice!

It's so exciting I want to squeal like an actual girl, which is unusual for me. I will be there for one year, working pretty much wherever they need me. And having been there already, I know it's exactly where I'm meant to be. I can't think of anything else I'd rather spend my time on, or any other people I'd rather serve.

To avoid making this too long, stay tuned for the next post where I'll tell you all about Stella's Voice and the life-changing work they're doing. And of course, how you can help :)