On my final morning I insisted on a flying visit to the office so that I could present staff with the hand painted shirts with the pictures of the children with their work. The project is to be known as "Impressions MD 2011" as hand painted on the shirts.I had painstakingly transferred the pictures and hand painted the logo on twelve shirts working a couple of nights late into the night, so that staff also can make presentations at the Orphanages on behalf of the project!
Above the final photo shot with staff I had come to know over the last at the office of Help the Children Charity.
Minutes later I whisked off in a car heading for the border. Tranestria is one very interesting state or maybe it should be referred to as a non state?As a result of a civil war in 1993 the Russian Red army peace keepers have a presence at the border.
On the whole the border equates to the historical border that was the demarcation prior to 1940 when the Soviet Union created the Republic of Moldova. This boundary followed the line of the River Nistru. The only difference to this is that in 1993 the Transtrians have also taken the town of Bendary which is on the Western bank (Moldovan side) of the River Nistru!
Any border crossing into Transniestria involves going through three sets of border control. Above can be seen the Transniestrian with their red and green flag, this is followed by the Russian Peace keepers, and is then followed by the Moldovan Border Control.
My hosts seemed quite accustomed to dealing with these controls, everything in Traniestria is done on a bartering basis - corruption is the name of the game - which I sense is the name of the game in former Soviet regions as a whole! (Moldova is not prone to this way of life to the same extent as it it is looking west towards allegiance with the European Union).
However our driver did handover a small bottle of perfume to the Customs official at the Moldovan check point - had this not been done my exit may not have been so prompt.
We then were being whisked through the Moldovan countryside with its undulating countryside dotted with small villages with as many wells and it was with sadness that I saw the grand entry of Botannica in the distance, but realised I had on this occasion be dropped at the International Airport for my departure.
There was one further problem as we sped up the hill towards the airport our car was stopped by the Moldovan cops!
Yes we were speeding also it had to be checked that the driver had both citizenship for both Moldova and Transniestria - thankfully I was not driving!
The Police were looking for 100dollar bribe my hosts were looking to get it down to 10 dollars which I believe they did!
I was very thankful to be in the safe hands of my hosts
It was with mixed emotions that I left my new Tranestrian friends, but my own sense and knowledge that my project objectives had largely been met and also had been received so well at the orphanages left me with a sense that I could leave well pleased with my endeavours!
I had a long wait at the airport but a coffee at the bar close to the entrance allowed me to have a view out towards the land of Moldova I have come to love and feel apart of. And I had the fore cite to keep some paints handy and went about my business of creating my final impression from the terminal building looking towards the white apartment buildings that make up the suburbs of Chisinau and the red and white chimneys of industry that give way to the undulating countryside dotted with homesteads that had become a familiar sight over the passed weeks.
With in the foreground the entry access to the terminal building and the police officer who both seemed to have responsibility for keeping vehicles moving and also called in a special unit when a piece of left luggage was found inside the terminal not too distant to where I was standing!
What a contrast this terminal is to the huge unfriendly concrete giant of Gatwick where I had to waste away some hours three weeks previously!
My flight back was with an Austrian airline and a change of plane in Vienna!
I was able to share the first flight with a Moldovan girl who had just completed her masters in finance in Berlin and was about to start a job in the sector in Berlin. She had just spent sometime at home with her parents and been a bridesmaid to one of her friends. She was a very proud Romanian Moldovan and it was really nice to get a final perspective from her having had very much a Russian perspective on things over the last week.
I like both Russians and Romanian Moldavians - thankfully both groups seem at least on the surface to co-exist quite happily.
It was with Quite some sadness that as this small plane shakily came into land I had to make a swift departure saying fair well to Elena having exchanged contact details and make my way to my London bound plane.
The final planes departure was delayed by 15 minutes due to heavy winds over London which meant the queuing of planes over London had to be kept to a minimum - apparently Britain had experienced severe winds as a tail end of Hurricane Karina had reached the maritime shores of Uk.
However as we flew in over the Wash, I am sure pilots follow the rivers like travellers of old. The Captain reported that the winds subsided and the cloud had been largely blown away.
So above is a view of the Thames with the old Millennium Dome (now the O2 building) in the bottom centre of the photo.
As we finally came into land with the sun setting I realised one chapter of this adventure was coming to a successful completion.
..... But as I saw a plane take off another chapter was just beginning ... how am I going to bring value to all this .... and make the lives of these orphans known back in the UK!
That question can wait for another day .... first I need a few good nights sleep and to enjoy the fact that my pioneering adventure had birthed "Impressions MD 2011" and has been a success!
