Moldova is a small country in Eastern Europe bordering Romania and Ukraine. It is the poorest country in Europe with a population of 2.4 million people. Yet, over the past 20 years, in this little country a beautiful Christian ministry of love and care has emerged. The ministry is called Casa Mea which mean “My House”. God led three ladies, Liliana and Anea from Moldova and Maureen from Wales, to begin showing God’s love for people living in Closed Institutions in Moldova.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moldova plunged into economic freefall. Closed Institutions were established in remote places with high walls and gates which housed people with various disabilities. They were places of extreme neglect, where dignity, hope, and often life itself, were stripped away. Maureen recalls, “There was nobody who seemed to care whether these men and women lived or died.” Even more painfully, they were cut off from hearing that there is a God who loves them.
Liliana, Anea and Maureen had no financial resources, but they began visiting one of the Closed Institutions and telling the women about God’s love for them shown in Jesus. Some of the women responded to the message. Maureen says, “They ran to Christ.” As the three ladies prayed a vision formed: to bring some of the women and men out of Institutions and into ordinary homes, where they could live as part of the community and the local church – and so “Casa Mea” was born. Maureen says, “We agreed we would never ask for money. We would pray and trust God, and we have never lacked.” There were many obstacles, but God answered their prayers and has provided for all their needs through the gifts of Christians and churches.
Today there are 5 homes, some for gentlemen and some for ladies, each in a small community. Each resident has their own room and are cared for by the staff team. Each house has a garden where vegetables are grown and where the residents love working and then eating what they have grown. In these homes those, who once lived nameless lives, now flourish. They worship, work, pray with deep faith, and belong. They can say the house they live in is “My House!” Liliana, Anea and Maureen believe the transformation of these dear people is a beautiful work of God which shows that He is still at work in his world by his Holy Spirit and cares deeply for those who are poor and needy, as we all are! They give all the glory to God and sum up the past 20 years in a single sentence, “With God, nothing shall be impossible.”