News Stories

It’s a cold Tuesday morning in Causeni, a city in the eastern part of the Republic of Moldova. Oxana, 45, and her daughter Polina, 6, are on their way to kindergarten. “Come on love, keep up” Oxana says.   They are accompanied by Dima, a dog that usually hangs around the Refugee Accommodation Center where they live. “Polina named the dog after one of her friends in kindergarten here in Moldova” Oxana says. “Now he follows us everywhere!” she laughs. Much like other refugees who left Ukraine due to the full-scale war initiated by the Russian Federation in February 2022, Oxana and Polina...

Vova is the eldest of three brothers, with whom he grew up in Odesa. A few years ago, after celebrating their last day at school, Vova and his classmates went to the seaside in Odesa.  The then 14-year-old decided to jump off a cliff into the water, a decision that would change his life forever.   On 1 June, 2015, on Children’s Day, Vova had his first spinal surgery. The boy would spend four more months in the hospital undergoing various procedures.    “I brought my personal belongings to the hospital. We felt like we had moved there,” his mother Irina recalls.    Now 22,...

Cinematography enthusiasts are invited to take part in „One Minute Festival: On the Move”, a unique cinematic event that celebrates the art of one-minute storytelling and promote inclusion. The festival is organized by the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Creative Companies Association of Moldova. The festival is hosted by Mediacor and will bring together, in a creative environment, amateur and professional filmmakers, including refugees, and Moldovan alike over the course of several months. Participants will be challenged to create one-minute films that capture moments related to...

Marina plays with the trident of the Ukrainian coat of arms she wears as a pendant while listening to Tatiana, her Romanian teacher. Tatiana has made it her goal to teach her class the Romanian phrases needed in everyday life.  Marina and her husband Serhii are from Kherson, Ukraine, and have been attending Romanian language lessons in Chisinau for almost two months. They are part of a class of about 40 refugees, and other foreigners living in Moldova. The class meets on a Friday at the Charity Centre for Refugees and shares their experiences of using their Romanian language skills over the...

Dumitru travelled from Bender in Moldova’s transnistrian region, to participate in this year’s Big Hearts Marathon in Chisinau. As a 29-year-old wheelchair user, it was his second year competing in the race.  ‘  Together with a friend, Dumitru had travelled to Chisinau a couple of days before the event, to test the racing wheelchairs at the NGO People with Disabilities of the Republic of Moldova, which provided the special equipment free of charge. Dumitru was very enthusiastic about the Marathon. “I was competing in this for the second time. I came from Bender just for the race”...

Maria* has been in Nisporeni for more than a year. She comes from the Donetsk region, a territory under military control of the Russian Federation since 2014. She chose to come to the Republic of Moldova because her son and granddaughter were here. The host country welcomed Maria’s family. “We are comfortable in Moldova, but obviously we want to be home,” Maria says. Maria says she delayed leaving as much as possible because it was complicated for her to make the decision to go into the unknown.   “I endured as much as I could, but when the Russian invasion...