SUPPORT MOLDOVA

Home for Hope

Human trafficking in Moldova is very real. In the past, most trafficked Moldavians were taken to Europe. Now many are taken to Turkey and the Middle East where the demand has grown and anti-trafficking efforts have not yet taken root. The situation is not improving, but only becoming more entrenched.

The numbers and statistics are staggering, but we must not overlook the fact that each number represents an individual. The Home of Hope is designed to be a home of safety, a home of restoration. As girls and women return to Moldova after months or years of horror, they are able to find a safe place to heal.

The Home of Hope is not a center or a clinic, but a home, a place where the love of Jesus can heal broken lives. No matter the time needed, this home is open to those that are desperate for wholeness. We have designed it as a place of beauty, where God’s peace can calm the greatest inner storms.

How can you help?  You can help in four key ways:  Learn, Care, Pray, and Support.

• Learn all about the issue, taking time to read and research.  Get past the sensational and find the true issues.
• Care enough to get involved, both locally and internationally.  There are scores of people who want to talk about the issue.  We need people who care enough to do something.
• Pray for the ministry, both for the women and for the staff.  It is a ministry that is in need of a miracle each and every day.
• Support the work with your giving.  We do carry a heavy load financially each month and we need people who will help with the ministry.

Home of Hope Moldova is part of Project Rescue, an international anti-trafficking ministry to victims of human trafficking.

Moldova Trafficking Stats

1. The majority of women and girls that are trafficked come from rural areas. Over 10 percent are under 18 years old, some as young as 12 years old. Traffickers recruit women and girls through different strategies.

2. Direct contact, when women and girls, or their families, are approached by traffickers. The traffickers are often women from the same village who have previously worked as prostitutes or have been trafficked abroad and became traffickers. The family is often paid money in advance and the woman or girl is expected to earn the advance and pay back the family's debts.

3. Advertisements are placed in the press, offering jobs abroad. The advertisements directed at young women offer jobs as waitresses or house help, but more often bluntly state that the jobs are for those willing to work in the sex industry.

4. Tourist agencies offer full migration services from arranging passports and Schengen visas to transportation and work contracts. There are more than 3,000 tourist agencies, of which only some 140 have an official license to operate.

5. Job agencies. Out of a total of 100 job agencies, only fourteen have official licenses and these mostly hire men for construction work. Only three agencies offer jobs to women as waitresses and nurses. Others offer illegal work. Some of these enterprises are run by organised crime groups and operate as covers for trafficking.