crisis pregnancy | Walking By Faith in Europe

Part Two

Moldova is the poorest country in Europe, and poverty means vulnerability. Sometimes, as noted in yesterday’s post, a family will either abort or abandon children that they can’t afford to keep. So Moldova’s orphanages are filled with children who are not truly orphans, but are simply abandoned. Being the poorest country in Europe, and having the responsibility for so many orphans means that the orphanages cannot do more than simply keep their little charges alive. When an orphan reaches the age of eighteen, they are given a small amount of money and a bus ticket to the nearest city. Traffickers know this and often cruise the bus stops by the orphanages looking for young girls to whisk away into a life of prostitution. And, having no other life skills, they really have no other alternative.

Sometimes, in exchange for money, the orphanage directors will cooperate with the traffickers by letting them know when girls will be released. And sometimes, the orphanage directors, themselves, become traffickers, opening the orphanage as a child brothel, and selling the girls into a life of prostitution when they are released.

Rescuing these girls from prostitution is the focus of several ministries here in Moldova. In Trans Istria we saw the construction site of a church that wants to house girls, teach them life skills and job skills, and help get them started into a better life. The church doesn’t currently have enough money to finish the building project, so they are using the help of missionaries who come as volunteer help. Even if you are not skilled in construction, but you want to help, any extra pair of hands is very gratefully put to work in various ways, and for whatever length of time you can come. You can contact us through the GoMissions website for more information.

Our visit yesterday to Irena and Olga, the mother and daughter team that works in the Pregnancy Crisis Center in Chisinau is another organization that helps these at-risk girls. Orphans and the rescue of prostitutes is not the primary focus.

Stella’s Voice is a ministry based in the UK that also rescues at-risk girls. You can contact them on their website for ways that you can help their ministry help these girls.

Traditionally, law enforcement (worldwide) has jailed and prosecuted the prostitutes, themselves. But the fact is that few prostitutes choose that lifestyle. The ones who do choose to go into prostitution have all been molested as children, so that they have come to believe that it is only through sex that they have value. Therefore, it is not only wrong to jail prostitutes, but also a waste of resources, since it only effects the supply in a very small way without diminishing the demand at all.

The only country in the world that has been able to drastically reduce prostitution (by 80 percent) is Sweden. Instead of prosecuting the prostitutes, Sweden prosecutes the johns—and does so publicly. In fact, anyone traveling to, from, or through Sweden for the purpose of buying the services of prostitutes (sex tourism) is jailed and denounced in the Swedish media.

Unfortunately, Moldova is far too poor to address the problem of prostitution at all. But the western countries to which these girls are trafficked do have the resources. Any country that really wants to help these girls, or at the very least to stop prostitution within their borders, should follow the Swedish model. I suspect that the problem is that most politicians don’t care about prostitutes and/or the police are in some way involved (financially or by receiving favors). My criticism is not limited to the countries of Western Europe, but worldwide, including my own. It is within the power of our government to stop prostitution. But do they want to. America, do you want to stop prostitution?

Part One

This morning we went to visit a mother and daughter team (Olga and Irena) who help girls with “problem pregnancies.” In other words, they help girls who find themselves unhappily pregnant to make the right decision about their babies and their lives. Irena pointed out how unusual their partnership is in Moldova, where mothers and daughters are frequently at odds with each other. The generation gap in Moldova is wider than the Grand Canyon. But through Jesus Christ, they are as much sisters as they are mother and daughter.

Besides helping young girls, they also help married women who find themselves pregnant with a baby they can’t afford to keep (most Moldovan families who cannot afford to care for their children either abort or abandon them). They also help fathers and at-risk families, and do post-abortion counseling. And they help the children born as a result of their efforts with a daycare program.

Irena, the daughter, translated for her mother, who told us about how she became involved with this ministry. Olga had been working in an important, high-paying job when God called her to this work. She was able to do both for a while and then the director of the ministry left, and she was asked to take over the directorship. Olga thought and prayed long and hard about it because it would mean giving up her apartment (owned by her company), and taking a dramatic cut in pay. She asked four people to pray about it, and all four came back with the same answer as she had gotten: that she must take the directorship. Then Olga asked God for four very specific signs, and she got all four signs. So she made a deal with God: “If I do my part, then You’ve got to do Your part and help me out.” I laughed at that point and told her what my pastor in Texas says: “If your ministry doesn’t scare you, then it’s not from God.” She laughed and said, “Then it was definitely from God.”

So Olga took over the directorship, and the money came in as needed. Of course, the most important thing that they do is to introduce each person that enters the center to Jesus. Only Jesus can help them to have a better life.

Now they have bigger needs. Olga has big dreams: to open a house for unwed mothers, with a training center in which they can teach job skills as well as baby care. In addition there would be a day care center and counseling center. They would also like to open a school for the children, the first of whom are now almost school aged. I love the faith to dream big like that, and I pray that they will find the funding to make their dream a reality.

If you have it in your heart to help this ministry, please make a donation. Any amount would be so greatly appreciated! You can make a tax-deductible donation on the European Faith Missions website. At the same time, please send me an e-mail (abrown@europeanfaithmissions.com) to let me know that you want your donation to go to the Pregnancy Crisis Center of Chisinau in Moldova. Do good because God is good!