He wants to live with his mother, but they have no home

Ion is a 15-year-old boy currently enrolled in an auxiliary school in Moldova. Sadly, he cannot live with his mother and his 19-year-old brother because the family has neither a stable home nor the means to provide for themselves. They move from place to place, renting an old, dilapidated house in Soroca. To keep warm, they burn walnut shells collected from neighbors.

Ion’s mother hopes to bring him home from the residential institution in June 2015. Yet she fears they will not have a roof over their heads for all three of them. Although the older son works for the city’s Green Spaces Department, his salary is not enough to lift the family out of poverty and debt.

A representative of the Directorate of Social Assistance and Family Protection has expressed willingness to help the family access the benefits provided by law. However, all efforts are hindered by another serious issue: the children’s mother is originally from Ukraine and does not possess any identity documents. Multiple requests have been sent to the relevant authorities in Ukraine to assist in issuing her identification papers, but no response has been received so far.

Winter, however, cannot be postponed. Soon, snowdrifts will gather outside their windows, and the family still lacks many essentials needed to survive the cold season: firewood, warm clothing, and food supplies. Despite the hardship, they continue to hope for a miracle.

After all, Christmas—no matter how modest—should reach every home. And as long as there is Christmas, the kindness and humanity within us should leave no room for indifference or forgetting those in need.