Galina Tiscenco
Dr. Long
LJS 2103
Giving Opportunities
I was born in a country called Moldova. Moldova is located in Eastern Europe, between Ukraine and Romania. Being a growing country, Moldova struggles with a lot of issues. There are a lot of political and financial issues. Because of financial hardship, Moldova has always been dealing with issues such as homelessness, and human trafficking. A lot of women and children cannot support themselves, and will do pretty much anything to survive. Human trafficking is a big issue in Moldova. Women are constantly sold into foreign countries. One of the reasons this happens is because women cannot support themselves, and they look for jobs overseas which most of the time ends up being a situation of survival.
Because of financial hardship and lack of opportunities, a lot of young families find it hard to support their children and send their children to grow up in orphanages. One of the things I want to do in life is help these children get a better future, and it is because someone has helped me.
When I was six years old, my mother left for Greece, leaving me and father behind. At the time my father had health problems, and I was raised by my grandmother. Since my grandmother or my father could not provide me with a decent education, I was educated in an orphanage. Many people think it is unfortunate when a child is given to an orphanage, but being there was the best thing that happened to me. I lived in the orphanage for nine years. While living in the orphanage, we had a lot of missionaries come to our orphanage sharing the word of God, and meeting our physical and spiritual needs.
In 2003, a woman from Tennessee came on a mission trip to our orphanage. Her name was Ashley Lovell, and she was one of my small group leaders at the summer camp. When I met Ashley, I have also met a woman called Jennifer Gash who was one of Ashley Lovell’s’ friends, and who is currently my legal guardian. These two women have really changed my life. When I met them I was a totally different person. I was just a girl that knew she had no future, but these two women have really given me hope.
One of the times they were there, Ashley led me to Christ, and helped me understand who Christ really is. Later on, Ashley Lovell left to do mission work in South Africa, but Jennifer started working on a non-profit company called Sweet Sleep. Jennifer began to come to Moldova multiple times a year, and we developed a special relationship with each other. In May of 2006, I have graduated from the orphanage and Jennifer invited me to come with her on one of her mission trips to one of the cities in Moldova. One evening while talking to her, Jennifer asked me if I would like to pursue my education in the United States. I was extremely happy to be given such an amazing opportunity, and I could feel God’s presence in that room. I knew God wants to bring me here for a reason, and He has an awesome plan for my life. Being here has been a challenge in many ways, but being here has opened my eyes to things I did not notice back at the orphanage. Right now, I don’t exactly know all the ways God wants to use me, but I know I am ready. I have a heart for helping people. I love providing people with opportunities, and I do have faith in people. All people can be good people if given an opportunity. I know God has given me an opportunity so that later I on I can provide others with an opportunity.
One thing I hated about Moldova is the magazine called “My Story”. The reason is hate it is because it’s a magazine where people share their stories, and most of the stories were survival stories written by women who went through human trafficking. These women have made it through, but there are women who never got to write their stories in that magazine because they never made it. It breaks my heart to be aware of the fact that there are still women out there who are forced into doing sexual acts. It breaks my heart to know that there are women who are constantly abused physically, sexually and spiritually. People do not have the right to just take the body and the soul from other people. This needs to be stopped, and I want to find ways to not have to read that magazine full of stories written by women who will never be able to live a normal life again.
Also, orphans really touch my heart as well. There is a need for better opportunities for these children, and better chances of growing up in a family. From my personal experience I know that these children are in need of a family, and they are desperate for a relationship. Many times I would feel lonely and sad because I did not have anyone to go to. Building relationships is very important. Relationships challenge us to grow, and they help us discover our blind spots. Every time I went on a mission trip to Chicago, I realized something new about myself and the world around me. I have not only given love, but I have received love from those children. We go on mission trip to preach the Gospel, but a lot of the times God uses mission trips to help us learn something new about Him. He helps us see things differently, and he reminds us of how blessed we are. One of the things I want to do is prevent these children’s hearts from becoming hard like stone. Children are the future of our universe, and they need to be taken care of. When there is lack of love, attention and care, it is very easy for a child to become cold hearted. God has appointed his us to take care of each other, and he has brought the strong to lead the weak. Our mission as people is to serve others, and this is exactly what I want to do. God has given me so many blessings, but they are meant to be shared with others. When I look at the whole picture in my life I realize that I am much more blessed than millions of people. I know I cannot do great things because I am just human, but just like Mother Teresa said “We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.”
