It's Like There's No War Going On Next Door - Chisinau, Moldova
We as a team, though not complaining (I think people who are drawn to travel and helping in general fully expect to be uncomfortable at times) were pretty tired from our travels. No. We were exhausted. I mean, who besides my daughter and my friend Danny ever really sleeps on a plane?
Our driver, Aniel, is Romanian and in just the few hours I've known him, I can see he is invaluable to us. He’s driver, guide, teacher, and so much more. He drives our big van like it’s my little Ford C-Max. I’m in wonder at how he parks this behemoth. (I speak/write in the present tense because we are presently, as I write this, in the van heading to the Moldovan/Ukrainian border, Alniel at the wheel.) After picking us up at the Chisinau (keesh-no) Airport, he took us to our nice hotel in the heart of the city, Regency Hotel (Eleganță și Confort) on Sfatul Tarii Street, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. Bine Ați Venit! (Welcome!) I wanted a shower and to take a nap so badly, but I was afraid I might sleep through my alarm and not wake for our dinner together. So, in my nice room on the 6th floor, where the Hellenic (Greek) Consulate to the Republic of Moldova also resides,
I showerd and organized myself. I wanted a walk on this pretty day but was advised not to go out alone. But, just as I pondered a good walk, Kathleen, one of our team leads, sent a group message asking if anyone wanted to take a walk. “Yes!” I enthusiastically responded. Kathleen has been to Chisinau previously and knew just where to take us. An hour and a half later, Kathleen, Ginger (our team doc), and I were on our way. Kathleen took us to a great big gorgeous park about 10 minutes away from the hotel. The autumn leaves were the stars of the show here.
We loved the paths and stairs and the lake. The park was filled with families, and children, and lovers, and walkers, and sitters. Someone somewhere was playing music. The temperature was about 16-18˚C or almost 70˚F - my jacket was definitely not necessary!
It was a beautiful walk, reminiscent of Central Park in New York, Ginger said. Indeed.
Our walk was just the exercise I’d been craving and gorgeous to boot. Back at the hotel, a freshening up then on to dinner. La Placinte was delicious and I had my first taste of Moldovan fare. On the menu, there were lots of savory flaky pastry dishes and savory dishes wrapped in a crepe-like roll. There was chicken soup, beef soup, beautiful salads, salmon,
chicken wings, french fries, and mashed potatoes.
Lesson: we Americans use A LOT more salt than Moldovans do! (Probably a lot more than many other countries do. Maybe not as much as Asia with thei sodium intake. But I don’t know. The food here in Moldova has been delicious but decidedly bland to my salt-addicted taste buds.)
Aniel joined us for dinner
and it was so interesting to hear stories of Ukraine from a Romanian man who goes to Ukraine with humanitarian workers (not only with CERT teams but other groups) at least 3 times a month. This trip is the 17th time he’s gone to Ukraine since the war started. He shared so much information with us. I recognized what he was telling - this insider information - for the treasure it is.
He told us:
300 Ukrainian soldiers are dying per day on a “regular” day, much more on days…well, not so regular.
The soldiers are paid €3,500 per month but if they die, the family, their wives and children, for example, receive nothing.
Aniel does help with extractions (moving people from the war zone in Ukraine to Moldova) but only by supplying gas to those who go to bring the people out. He also regularly delivers food to the people of Ukraine from his home in Romania, passing through Moldova regularly on his way to Ukraine.
To come to Moldova from Ukraine, a passport is not necessary, only a regular form of identification.
Moldova is poorer than Ukraine and does not have its own military.
In the last two weeks, the southern part of Ukraine has been bombed very badly in retribution for the Crimea Bridge bombing.
Were we’re working in Odessa, we’ll be 80 miles from the frontline, the Kherson area, which has been taken by the Russians.
In June of this year, 2022, Russians came onto southern Ukraine beaches and killed 40 people, a bunch of families. To prevent the Russians from doing this again in the future, the Ukrainians put mines on the beaches. The problem is that the mines are now killing many Ukrainians who venture onto the beaches.
Iranian drones bombed Odessa last week but targeted the electrical grid not citizens.
Next week, Moldova has informed its people, electricity will be cut by 40% across the country due to the Russian targeting of Ukraine’s electrical grid because Moldova’s primary source of electricity is Ukraine.
Moldova is currently applying for EU citizenship but there are rules forbidding inclusion in the EU if the country applying shares a border with a country actively at war.
Currently, men from 18-60 years of age in Ukraine are not allowed to leave the country in case they are called up to fight. There are exceptions including having 3 or more kids or having a serious medical condition preventing the man from fighting. And, if called, you have to go fight. But, in general, only the younger men are being called up.
Even though the Ukrainian army is poorly prepared, lots of equipment from other countries, usually the older stuff no longer in use, has been given to Ukraine.
Some people favor President Zelensky, but those in the war zone are hungry and not getting fed and are defecting to Russia.
Putin is trying to extend the border of Russia. I asked if Ukraine falls, would Moldova be next? “Absolutely,” Aniel answered. There’s already a small ribbon of land between Ukraine and Moldova controlled by the Russians. If Ukraine falls, Russia would take Moldova and keep extending as far as possible to the old Soviet Union days. And my home, Romania, if you remember, is on the western border of Moldova and was also part of the Soviet Union. But. The Russian soldiers are not well-prepared. In fact, at the beginning of the war, their ‘bullet-proof"‘ vests were actually filled with cardboard. [He wasn’t kidding.] They’re supplied with little food. And winter is coming.”
As a lawyer I read here on Substack says, “So.”
It was an incredible boots-on-the-ground type of conversation over sour cherry crepes with cream.
And I pondered out loud, “Gosh, that beautiful park today and now this beautiful food. People shopping and children playing on scooters. Business going on as usual. You’d never think that all you’ve just shared with us is happening, that an actual war is afoot right next door.”
Everyone agreed. Moldova’s seeming normalcy and the war in Ukraine - it is a disorienting juxtaposition. It was hard to fathom that Ukrainian soldiers - so close to us really - are dying by the 100’s and 1000’s every week while we watched children play in a beautiful park in Moldova.
But! We were encouraged because we met someone famous! He was the perfect cap to a very long but good and informative day.
Renate, Thank you for sharing your experience and the stories of what is truly happening in Ukraine. This is eye opening and heart felt as we receive your words back home. Keep sharing all your encounters, it is much better to receive information from the people living through it than through the news media. Cherishing your words.
So happy you are able to update us and got to see more than war. Continued prayers for those who are losing their lives and loved ones.