From July 17-23, a BOL team with 17 young ‘Way to Success’ graduates completed a short mission trip to the Carpathian Mountains. The team was part of the ‘Youth for Tomorrow’ movement, seeking to shape a new generation of young and passionate leaders for the responsibilities of bringing change to Moldova.

The trip’s goal was the formation of young leaders alongside practical service to vulnerable children and people in need. After time spent together in training and gathering information, the mission trip became a perfect opportunity to put these things into practice.
Working and living together gave BOL leaders a great opportunity to convey in deeds the integrity of personal character and servant leadership, and to share with the young team members the principles of applying true faith to life.

Poverty and migration in the last ten years has considerably weakened the institution of the family in Moldova, according to UNICEF in its reports on the situation in the country. Since 1991, about 1.5 million Moldovans have left the country looking for jobs and means of subsistence for them and their families.

A second generation of Moldovans have already left in this search for a better future. While their parents were earning money abroad, children were growing up without parental care, attention or proper family education. According to official statistics, more than 160,000 children were left behind in the last two decades, but unofficial data raises this number to 300,000.