Michael Schodermayr, co-founder of the “Alliance for Children” aid organization, was recently in the Republic of Moldova again. The small country with the capital Chisinau is a good hour’s flight and not even 1000 kilometers away from our front door. The Republic of Moldova is considered the poorhouse of Europe. The war in Ukraine has further aggravated the situation.
Physician Schodermayr did not examine children as usual during this visit, but met, among others, Austria’s Ambassador Stella Avallone and Counselor Social Attaché Gero Stuller. “We are planning a health center with local partners in the far north of the country in the Edinet region, primarily for children with disabilities,” Schodermayr told the Steyrer Zeitung. During an on-site inspection, he looked at a suitable plot of land and the building to be adapted. Medical staff, such as therapists, are available on the spot.
Schodermayr, who has been treating children in the Republic of Moldova for eight years together with the Hoffnung Verein Hoffnung and brings them to Austria for life-saving operations when they are diagnosed, says: “There are hardly any structures and there is a blatant undersupply.” Here and there, the greatest need of children with disabilities can be alleviated through the initiative of an association. In the health center to be set up, the little patients would receive physiotherapy, ergotherapy or psychotherapy, depending on their needs. “In the background, our doctors always take care of acute cases,” explains Schodermayr.
The project should be on track by the end of the year. There is the prospect of support from the Austrian Development Cooperation Agency (ADA). Schodermayr describes the mood in the Republic of Moldova, a neighbor of Ukraine, as “tense but stable.” It is estimated that between 100,000 and 150,000 Ukrainian war refugees are seeking shelter in Moldova. “Most of them are housed privately.” People would share what little they have. “It must have been something like that in Austria in 1956, when tens of thousands of refugees from Hungary were welcomed with open arms.”
www.allianz-fuer-kinder.at
Source: Nachrichten
