One and a half years ago I told you about Ion, whom we call Ionuz. He was living alone in a dilapidated hut; his parents had died from tuberculosis. When he failed to show up at school and became bedraggled, his teacher organised a place for him in “CONCORDIA – The City of Children.”

Now he was protected and had everything he needed to live and learn. But he resisted moving into the lovely children’s home. He had to take care of his old neighbour, Nadejda, whom he called Granny: to fetch water from the well, to supply fl our and wood for the oven. She was no longer capable of doing this; she could hardly manage the two steps to her oven.

When we made sure Granny would be cared for, Ionuz moved into “CONCORDIA – the City of Children.” But he has not forgotten her and he still visits her regularly in her village. For her part, she is overjoyed that he has found a new home and can learn again. “May I take some food from the table with me?” Ionuz asked one day. When the carer wanted to know what for, he led her to the many people who live around the happy City of Children. He opened our eyes to the lonely people who can no longer leave their homes, for the many who have no wood to heat with, for the people who are starving in the middle of Europe.

We can thank our Moldavian children and your generous support that we were able to open a soup kitchen and a social centre. This centre and our program were named Nadejda after Ionuz’ “Granny” because Nadejda means hope. More than a hundred old and weak people dragged themselves to the opening ceremony. They sang for the fi rst time in many years.

Our colleagues in the Republic of Moldova are diligent and grateful because they don’t have to move out of the country in order to feed their children. More and more mayors and helpers come from different communities – they want to establish a social station. There are already twenty-one cooking sites from which hope radiates. Nadejda pushed open a new door in CONCORDIA. The children themselves gave CONCORDIA a new motto: Now it’s not only “for our children” but rather “for our parents”. The children want to share what they have received with the elderly and the poor.

“It was night” is our motto for the year. Many old people in Moldova live in a night of poverty, hunger and hopelessness. Our children and colleagues want to bring light into this night. Dear friends, please help us fi ll the baskets of the young people, which they carry into the poor huts. Warm soup makes the survival of many possible. A bundle of wood provides warmth for Christmas. The visit of a young person makes the eyes of the elderly who had nothing more to hope for shine. Then they can say: “It was night, but you helped us.”

May Nadejda – hope – also come into your family on Christmas Eve.

Father Georg Sporschill, SJ

Chisinau, Advent 2008