Children with disabilities are at the heart of our charity, but if we can we do not say NO to anyone. Wheelchairs from Southampton Hospice help Moldovan veterans.

When we visited Moldova after our last delivery we had a group with World War II veterans approach us with tears in their eyes, looking for help for their fellows with no legs or who cannot walk anymore.

What could we say?

The wheelchairs donated to us by Southampton Hospice went straight to them. There are so few of them left in a country like Moldova. They were on the front line with the Russians, but now they are forgotten in small villages around the country.

Vasile is so happy at 91 years of age to be able to have a wheelchair and a new stick for his friend.

In Riscani district we have 47 veterans, in Moldova, there are still about 7000 from World War II and from the Civil War.

We now have over 100 wheelchairs to be delivered to children with disabilities and to adults like Vasile, enabling them to see the day not just from the house window but from the yard.
A right, not a privilege

The inclusion by the society of all people with disabilities is a birth right not a privilege or a lottery managed by us. We do hope that the charity will change the lives of many people with disabilities and contribute in some way of changing society’s attitude to them.

In my view, the children are our FUTURE but these adults are people thanks to whom we are where we are today.

MAD-Aid would like to say a Very Happy Golden anniversary to our trustee John Barnes and his lovely wife Ann.

Ann and John had 2 lovely Golden Wedding parties and raised about £ 300.00 towards MAD-Aid’s next shipment. Thanks, John and Ann, and our good wishes for many happy years ahead.
We’re ready to send the next shipment, and we need your help.

Since coming back from Moldova, we have been very busy.

Our store, kindly lent by Hollies Farm, is filling up so fast that we hardly can keep up. St Mary’s hospital is happy that the donated equipment can be useful where it is so badly needed.

The Isle of Wight Council has also donated some special needs equipment for the activity centre for children with disabilities that we are planning to set up in Moldova. And more much-needed wheelchairs are in our store and waiting to be delivered.

We are ready to send our next shipment as soon as the funds are raised. It costs around 4,500 Euros to transport each load. Can you help?

MAD-Aid was officially launched on 1st of September 2012. We had a vision and we had some clear goals: to collect discarded medical equipment, to get charity status, to raise funds for our first delivery.

And suddenly in March 2013 all this became a reality. We became a registered charity, and we took our first load to Moldova.

Getting underway

On 5th of March at 7 am, on a chilly Spring morning, everyone was excited and keen to get the 16.5 m lorry loaded. With jokes, fun and good teamwork we got the last bed on and the door closed. There was no space left at all. With a farewell to the drivers, Ciprian and Ionut, we went home full of happiness and all the hard work seemed worthwhile.

But the work was not done yet, and John and I were soon busy packing our personal luggage.

On 6th of March we left for Moldova. Our trip took nearly took as long as driving as we had ferry, bus and plane with a stop in Turkey. On Wednesday morning at 9.30 am we landed in Chisinau airport, and were met by Ana and Andrei, our full time helpers for the time being there, and also by our little van that we hired to drive in Moldova.

After a very short break, enough to have a coffee, we started planning the delivery and visits. The lorry was in Romania by this time, and we checked with the broker that the papers for customs clearance were OK. At 3.30 pm we decided to visit the Mother and Child hospital where the first equipment would arrive.

A brush with reality – conditions in the Mother and Child Hospital

I was born and raised in Moldova. I was a patient in this hospital a few times in the late 80′s, but what I saw there on 7th of March left me with no words and tears in my eyes.

Did I see the whole hospital? No I couldn’t. The beds were full of rust, the walls were painted such a dark green, there were broken bedside cabinets, tiles falling from the walls , and just pain in the parents eyes as they sat with their children. One of the nurses said to me that last summer they tried to take the beds out and wash them with petrol hoping the rust would come off.

This was enough for us for the day. After 24 hours with no sleep and with such excitement at seeing the lorry full, we came down to earth with a bang as we found that, instead of improving over the last 20 years, the hospital had badly deteriorated.

The load arrives

Thursday morning at 7.30 I had a phone call from Ciprian saying that he was already waiting at the Chisinau Customs Terminal which opens at 9 am so he could get customs clearance. We met with Veronica, the lady who arranged our papers, brokers and so on, took our pack of papers and headed to the terminal ourselves. Hours passed and there was still nothing either from customs personnel or from the broker. Everybody assured us that everything was OK and under control and would be finished soon. “Soon” turned out to be after 5pm.

First deliveries

After clearance, we unloaded the equipment for the Child and Mother hospital in a store in Chisinau and then headed to Riscani where the rest of equipment was to be unloaded. At Riscani hospital spirits were really high and the Consultant, the director of the hospital, the staff from the ward and even the patients were waiting outside to help unload.

By this time it was starting to rain quite heavily. John recalls the moment when a health care assistant picked up a locker which weighed about 30 kg and walked away with it. All the equipment went to a cardiac unit. The staff from A&E were asking when the load for them will come!

All the unloading was finished by 4 am. We said goodbye to the lorry and drove home to get some sleep.
Finding out more about needs on the ground

March 8th is a bank holiday in Moldova for international women’s day, so we decided to celebrate as well. By 8 am I was already up, and in the afternoon we went back to Riscani to sort out the stock left in storage that we were going to deliver individually.

During the following week, we visited several hospitals, spoke to the directors and staff, listened to patients’ views, visited a disabled people’s home, saw a few children with disabilities at home and also went to The Motivation Activity Center, where we saw the difference these wonderful people make.

Making a Difference

The trip was successful, and also very upsetting. We noticed the change when we went back to the hospitals where the patients with new beds were much happier. Over the lockers, there is conflict. The staff wanted a few lockers to store medication in; the patients were complaining that the lockers were supposed to be for them. We left them to it as both sides are right.

So overall, I can say with some authority now that things are bad and Moldova does need a lot of help.

I would like to thank everyone who made this trip possible starting with our trustees, supporters, equipment suppliers, volunteers here and in Moldova. Please do support us further and help us to Deliver the equipment and to MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

On Monday, March 4th, 2013, just five months after our launch, our first lorry filled with beds and medical equipment left the Isle of Wight for Moldova.

The lorry and our volunteers arrived on site at A E Brown Farms in Merstone at 8 a.m. There was a bitterly cold wind, and the sun remained stubbornly behind the clouds until the job was finished, but nothing could dampen the spirits of anyone who was there. Six months ago, this was just a dream. Now it is a reality.

The store that the farm had lent us for free was full, and we needed every inch of lorry space. With a lot of hard work and careful packing, the load was assembled so that it could be unloaded in the right order as the lorry travels from hospital to hospital.
The last bed is loaded onto the truck.

The last bed is loaded onto the truck.

Loading was managed by Victoria Dunford and our new Trustee Ruslan Ciobanu, with help from friends and volunteers. In an unbelievably short space of time the lorry was full and the load was being finally secured before the doors were closed. Just after 10.30 the lorry left the farm on its way to Moldova.

The lorry leaves on its journey to Moldova. The lorry leaves on its journey to Moldova.

We could not have done it without the help of many friends and supporters, and we have learned an enormous amount along the way. This is just the start. We’re not only helping update very poorly equipped hospitals, we’re also saving the NHS and local organisations thousands of pounds in disposal costs.

At the Wightlink Ferry Terminal at Fishbourne (thank you Wightlink) we added our sponsors’ support signs to the sides of the cab. Each company has sponsored a sign to contribute to the cost of the shipment. We aim to make this a bigger feature and opportunity for Island businesses in future. Sponsors for this trip were 1stbabyshop, HJ Bennett, Wight Leaflets, ESP Design and Print, Island Eye and PC Consultants. Other generous donations were received from Tad from Diametric, Roger Skidmore, Sandown and Shanklin Rotary and Ryde Rotary. Enormous thanks to you all.

We’ll be keeping in touch with Victoria and John, who are travelling out to Moldova to supervise delivery, and we’ll update you as things unfold. Meanwhile, if you’ve supported us this far, THANK YOU. We really value all you’ve done.