When Zina first started at school at age six, she wasn’t ready.

She comes from a small, muddy village in Moldova where there is little employment and few amenities. Six out of every 15 children here are from socially vulnerable families, struggling with poverty as well as issues such as poor health and alcohol abuse. Zina and her family live in a house that is in poor condition – some of the windows are broken and others are missing altogether, the gap covered with plastic film. Indoors, the cracked walls are covered by torn wallpaper and ragged carpets, and instead of furniture, they once used rough planks of wood.

Zina was enrolled in Mission Without Borders’ Children-in-Crisis (child sponsorship) program, and now attends one of our After-School Care projects, for children from vulnerable families who need that extra help with their school work.

Zina found school difficult from the start – and began feeling anxious that she was falling behind. “When I didn't know the answer and I couldn't solve the problems in our assignments, I felt really bad,” she said. “I always had to stay behind after lessons. I cried because I wanted to do well. I wanted to catch up with everyone else.”

At After-School Care, the children receive a warm meal and afterwards, head to the lessons room, where our MWB workers & volunteers warmly greet them. The children set out their school homework, and our staff walks around checking that everyone is ok, and helping anyone who needs it.

“Zina didn't know how to hold a pen in her hand when she first went to school,” one of our workers – Valentina – reported. “She had hardly any clothes, and no shoes. She was very shy and reserved. She was very disoriented as her father had just died, and her mother and older brothers were abusing alcohol. Nobody had prepared her for school.”