25 January 2022

Total raised by Abingdon School for ‘The Moldova Project’ surpasses £100,000

Since 2000, Abingdon School has enjoyed a partnership with Agape, a charity working to improve the lives of young people in Moldova.

Moldova, a former Soviet state, which gained independence from the USSR in 1991, is well known to students at Abingdon School, who have dedicated much of their fundraising efforts in recent years to ‘The Moldova Project’, helping to improve the lives of young people in a country which is widely accepted as being amongst the poorest in Europe.

Adam Jenkins, the teacher in charge of The Moldova Project at Abingdon School, comments: “Decades of political instability and economic decline, not to mention a global pandemic, have meant that many Moldovan families have struggled to buy basic supplies and provide their children with the equipment they need for school.

“Our most recent fundraising event in October, which saw record numbers of staff and students take part in a sponsored walk, achieved the phenomenal sum of £15,200, taking the total amount raised for Agape by the Abingdon community since 2000 to over £100,000. Agape used some of this latest donation to source and deliver beautifully decorated Christmas presents containing gifts of books, school supplies and sweets to 100 disadvantaged children in Ialoveni and the nearby villages of Vasieni, Ulmu and Floreni.

“Whilst we are rightly proud of all the charitable endeavours our students have undertaken and the impressive amount of money they have raised since The Moldova Project began, our partnership with Agape is not only about raising money, it is also about instilling in our students a desire to make a difference to the lives of those who are less fortunate than themselves.

“In 2003, some of our students visited Moldova on our first trip to the country, where they were able to see for themselves how our donations were being used; until the pandemic intervened, a group has returned every year since then to organise summer camps for children from Ialoveni and the surrounding villages. Abingdon sixth formers have taught English lessons, organised art, drama and music sessions, led film-making and photography workshops, and run lots of sporting activities, even managing to successfully introduce the concept of cricket to Moldova.”

“It has been immensely rewarding to see the enthusiasm with which these activities have been embraced by the Moldovan children and it has often been the case that we have seen the numbers attending increase each day as the word spreads round the local area that ‘Abingdon School is back’ – one notable occasion saw nearly 200 children arriving for a day’s entertainment!”

Nicu Bocaneala, the Director of Agape in Moldova, added: ​​“The partnership between Abingdon School and Agape is of incredible value as, especially in these current very difficult times, it means so much to those who benefit from the donations that someone is thinking of them. It is truly transformational, creating experiences that have changed the destiny of many young people and teachers here.”

Adam Jenkins adds: “In turn, our students have had the opportunity to develop communication, leadership, planning and organisation skills and to learn a great deal about what really matters to them, proving that when we make a difference to others, we also make a big difference to ourselves.”

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