I want to support a small country that accepts refugees Ukraine Neighboring Moldova March 11 21:15
"Although it is a country that is by no means economically prosperous, it has donated to Japan in the Great East Japan Earthquake, and this time it is accepting the people of Ukraine."
"Republic of Moldova".
I think there are many people who don't know where it is.
In a country about the size of Japan's Kyushu, the number of people evacuating from neighboring Ukraine across national borders continues to increase.
There are people who have started to move with the desire to "help" in a small country that continues to accept refugees.
(Mariko Noda, Network News Department)
What kind of country is it?
The trigger was a tweet posted on February 27 by a company employee, Mr. Kaneko Shun (account name) (44).
Mr. Kaneko
"There was a BBC report that looked at the reports that Poland and Moldova were accepting people from Ukraine, especially seeing Moldova, the" poorest country in Europe ", warmly accepting it at the border. I am deeply moved. "
On the third day of the invasion of Ukraine, it was a tweet that was moved by the news that reported the situation of the countries accepting evacuees.
In a news video, Kaneko watched Polish refugees serve hot meals and give blankets to their children.
However, the appearance of Moldova that was projected next was a little different.
It was a simple impression compared to Poland.
What kind of country is Moldova?
When I looked it up, the official name was "Republic of Moldova".
Adjacent to the southwestern side of Ukraine, it is about the same size as Kyushu in Japan and has a population of 2.64 million (excluding residents in some areas at the time of the adulthood).
Furthermore, on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, it was written that the Republic of Moldova had donated 7.2 million yen to Japan at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake 11 years ago.
"While investigating what kind of country it is, even though our economy is in a difficult situation, they donate at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and this time we accept Ukrainian refugees. I knew that I was doing it, so next time I wanted to help and support Japan. "
Kaneko immediately called in a tweet.
"Looking for a way to donate to the Republic of Moldova. A wonderful country that shows an attitude of helping other countries even if it cannot afford it"
(Kaneko's tweet)
It's moving now
Kensuke Wada (27), a company owner who was a follower of Kaneko's account, started to sympathize with this tweet.
After graduating from university, Mr. Wada, who worked at a financial institution in Germany, has a Russian partner from Ukraine, and he sees the situation where the citizens are sacrificed by the Russian invasion and they are being displaced from their hometown. rice field.
There, he found Kaneko's tweet.
I immediately sent a direct message.
We agree that it is necessary to convey Moldova and its relationship with Japan in Japanese in order to call for widespread support from Japanese people.
Mr. Wada suggested that she could use her experience of launching websites to create a Japanese website.
Mr. Wada
"I didn't have any direct acquaintance with Mr. Kaneko, but I thought it was moving now. Some of my Ukrainian acquaintances have begun to evacuate abroad. As I was thinking, Mr. Kaneko's message, "We also need support for neighboring countries to accept evacuees," touched my heart. "
To launch the site
In collaboration with Kaneko, Mr. Wada moved to launch an internet site to let him know how to donate directly to the Government of Moldova while contacting the Embassy of Moldova in Tokyo.
After having the embassy check the contents of the site, we released the site on the Internet on March 2.
It was only three days after Kaneko made her first tweet.
This is the completed site.
"Donations from Japan to Ukrainian refugees in Moldova".
This is the message on the first page.
Then, "Click here to donate to Ukrainian refugees through the Embassy of Moldova" and a link to an electronic payment service that allows you to donate with a credit card are displayed.
Donations can be sent from the donation destinations shown on the site to a dedicated account opened by the Ministry of Finance of Moldova for humanitarian assistance.
According to the Moldovan embassy, the donations collected will be used to support people who have fled Ukraine, including food, sanitary goods and medicines.
Ingenuity to improve "reliability of the site"
On the other hand, the challenge is to make people who visit the site understand that it is a proper site and increase its credibility.
The two thought that if the embassy "authorized" the website, the circle of support would expand.
I got in touch with the embassy and was introduced on Twitter and Facebook of the embassy.
"It's natural to help your neighbor"
As the Russian invasion continues, the number of evacuees crossing the border from Ukraine into Moldova continues to increase day by day.
According to the embassy, there were 290,148 evacuees as of March 9.
With Moldova's population of 2.64 million, more than one-tenth of the country's population has actually arrived.
Some of these have passed and are heading to another country, with 107,115 remaining in Moldova, of which nearly half, 48,473, are children.
The Government of Moldova continues to accept unprecedented numbers of evacuees, despite being forced to spend large amounts of money to provide accommodation, food and medical care.
The embassy explains that the reason for its continued acceptance is based on the experience of many refugees in the military conflict that occurred in the country in the 1990s.
Embassy of the Republic of Moldova
"Unexpected spending is squeezing public budgets, but it's normal to help our neighbors. We're sad past experiences of what it means to escape the war. Because I know. "
"What can I do?"
It is said that the site launched by Mr. Kaneko and Mr. Wada has been accessed 2500 times so far, but considering how much it will lead to donations from here, I would like more people to visit. ..
For example, to make it easier for Japanese people to donate, we will continue to devise ways such as attaching a manual that describes how to donate with an electronic payment service in Japanese.
They believe that if the war goes on for a longer period of time, support for neighboring countries that accept refugees, such as Moldova, will become even more important.
Mr. Kaneko
"We are in an environment where we can sleep on warm futons even if we see a dire situation and find it difficult. Even though it was a country that wasn't there, I was moving with intuition to help, and my passion for Moldova became stronger and stronger. I want to continue to support it, and what kind of power can I use other than donations? I'm still thinking. "
Mr. Wada
"I heard that my acquaintance's family has just fled Ukraine to Moldova. A 23-year-old Ukrainian friend may remain in Kiev and participate in the fight. What can I do in such a situation? I would like to continue to do my utmost. I would like to continue my activities so that the circle of support will expand with this site as an opportunity. "