Moldova.  Most often the question I am asked is, "where is that?"  Moldova is located east of Romania & west of Ukraine.  It is a former Soviet State in Eastern Europe.  In April of 2008 I traveled to Moldova with a team of leaders from my home church, The Refuge, located in the Charlotte, NC area (Concord).  Our church has supported the ministry of Philip Cameron & we wanted to see, and be a part of, what is taking place in that region of our world.  To understand the importance of that ministry, let me share a little about Moldova.

    Moldova is one of the leading countries in the world for sex trafficking of teenage girls.  Children & teenagers are put into orphanages at a staggering rate.  Once they reach the age of 16 they are forced out of the orphanages with no place to go.  Literally, they are put on the street with few belongings.  People in Moldova make $50 to $100 a month.  The Russian Mafia wait like sharks in the water for these girls to be let out of the orphanages.  They then make offers to them like, "we have a restaurant in Italy we want you to come work for, and we'll pay you $500 a month."  That kind of deal sounds like the deal of a lifetime when you have nothing.  The problem is, they never intend on taking them to any restaurant.  They put them in a vehicle, rape and abuse them until they reach their destination in another country, never to be seen again.  Orphanage directors have even been paid by the Mafia to tell them when a new "batch" of teenage girls will be released so they can be waiting on them.

    Philip Cameron began working with the orphanages of Moldova around 10 years ago.  The orphanages were in absolute horrible shape.  Children were freezing to death during the cold Moldovan winters because there wasn't enough heat in the building, & the windows were rotting, unable to keep the cold out.  In one orphanage in the village of Cupcui the building was in such poor shape that when it rained for a day, it rained on the inside for a week!  Children would have to move their beds around to get out from under a steadily leaking roof.  There was no hot water, and kids would have to walk outside in the freezing temperatures to another building that housed one shower for 80 children.  I saw this shower and it was one of the worst things I've seen.  They would stand 5 girls in the shower at one time...cold water...no heat.  They would walk back up to the orphanage in the freezing cold.  The heating system was in such poor shape that you could put your hands around the pipe and barely feel the warmth.  And after living in these conditions, they are turned out onto the streets at 16, fearful of what might happen to them next.  Since Philip Cameron began working with these orphanages there have been major changes to the buildings.  The orphanage in Cupcui now has a brand new roof, brand new showers & bathrooms with hot water, and a new heating system that heats the entire building during the cold winter months!  At another orphanage we visited, where 650 children are living, every window in that entire complex was replaced just last year!  It was so warm in the orphanage that they even had to OPEN the windows to allow some cool air in!

    This leads me to the next part of this ministry.  Philip envisioned a place where girls could go once they were forced out of the orphanages.  A place where their needs would be met, and dreams realized!  We visited Stella's House 1 where 12 girls now live in a place where love is shown to them like they've never experienced before.  They are attending school and going after dreams!  Named after a girl, Stella,  that was abused by sex traffickers and later died of AIDS, this is truly a safe haven where girls do not have to live in fear for their lives any longer!  Stella's House 2 is now complete, giving them a place for 25 more girls to be housed.  Stella's House 3 is under construction!

    I can't begin to tell you what it is like to walk into these orphanages where young boys & girls are starving for true love.  The day we spent in Cupcui left a lasting impression that I'll never be able to erase, nor do i want to try.  Our team took crafts for them to do.  Do you know what many kids in our country would do if we had "craft time"?  They'd laugh!  Yet these kids painted as if they were painting the Mona Lisa.  They stood with their prized possession as it dried, never letting it out of site.  Why?  Because they own nothing!  This was theirs!  They would smile proudly as we took their picture while holding their creation.  We hugged, we played, some read stories to them, we prepared gift bags...we simply loved!  When it came time to leave they didn't want us to go.  Philip told us that the time we spent with them that day was more than anybody had spent with most of those children in their lives.  They latched on and wouldn't let go as we had to load the vans to leave, wondering if they would ever see us again.  They cried, we cried...wow.  At another orphanage, we met with 13 girls that would be put out on the streets, with no place to go, within the next month.  Girls that are in Stella's House shared with them that there is a better life for them.  They sat with no expression on their faces because they didn't believe that could be true.  They've experienced promise and rejection so much in their life that hearing that opportunity just meant the possibility of another broken promise.

    I could go on and on.  There are so many other stories.  Children watching their parents murdered, or a mom deciding she didn't want her 9 year old daughter anymore so she just left her at the orphanage, to never see her again.  Those that have older siblings that were taken into the sex trade, to never see their sister again.  When you look at the faces of these kids, and they come running up to you to hug you, or just touch you, simply because you smiled at them, it makes you wonder how in the world this could ever take place.  The kicker for me was after we returned home.  I read a report where somebody in our country had paid 1.5 million dollars for a Marilyn Monroe sex tape.  A sex tape!  That 1.5 million would build 3 more Stella's Houses to take in even more girls and protect them from a horrible life in sex trafficking.  I knew then & there that I had to do more.  I don't have 1.5 million, but it starts with what resources the Lord has given me.  Half of all CD sales now go to support Philip Cameron & the work in Moldova.  We are asking the Lord for 100,000 CD sales to help build more Stella's Houses!  Please help World Wide Worship's "Project Moldova" by spreading the word, passing along the link to this update, & buying CD's at www.w3music.org, iTunes, and many more digital stores online.

    Please take time to view the video that shows you a little about this ministry.  This will bring these words to life a little more for you.  If you would like to know more about Philip Cameron and the ministry in Moldova, please don't hesitate to contact us.