One person can make a difference
(Original)

Victoria Mihalachi
(Age 18, Moldova)
“Ion Creanga” Lyceum, Chisinau

Since I was a child I’ve always enjoyed dreaming and imagining things that maybe didn’t exist at the time. I remember telling my family about my plans to make the world a better place, my plans to discover new things, to find and formulate new concepts – things that would really have an impact on the people around me. And many times I’ve heard adults say that all of these were just childish dreams, illusions and wasted hopes. I’ve many times heard that the only thing I needed to focus on is going to school, being a good child, staying out of trouble, growing up to be a nice wife and have a nice peaceful life. But even as a child I knew that I didn’t want to grow up to be this way, even then I felt like I was capable of doing more than sit and wait for something to happen – I felt that I needed to believe in something important, I needed to believe in me.

So now that I am 18 years old I look back and remember those times as a nice start for what I’ve became and what I do as a young woman. The community that I’ve been living in is a community that is facing many issues of different kind: social, cultural, environmental, politic and economic problems. It maybe seems that this might be the worst community to live in, but it really isn’t and that is thanks to the people that live in it.

Moldova being a small and poor country, it often seems that all the problems derive from poverty and lack of resources. I see the problem a bit differently. I think that poverty is indeed a major problem that causes other problems as a consequence, but at the same time there are problems that aren’t necessarily to be blamed on poverty. I see a tendency in my community of waiting for wonders to happen, waiting for others to come and solve your problems, which we all know it’s not the right strategy to adopt. It takes lots of things to achieve some sort of stability and prosperity in a community, and among these things, it takes courage, optimism and a strong desire to work for the benefit of the entire community. Of course, it also takes patience, intelligence and life experience, but what’s most important is the attitude that you adopt and the way you stick to that plan that you created in the beginning.

I want to see changes happening in my community and I want to be part of these changes. I feel like I have lots of potential and energy that I can put into making my country a better place to live in. Up to now I’ve been doing as much as I can to contribute in a way to my community, and I can definitely say that I can feel proud of what I’ve done along with my friends and colleagues.

We have implemented several projects in the rural areas of Moldova, fundraising toys and clothes for different orphanages, and organizing the celebration of national holidays for them. Every time we do something like this it makes me feel useful and happy for doing what I truly feel like. So far the projects that we have implemented were small scale projects, but I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to work on projects that will benefit more people.

I have ideas in many areas that need improvement in my community, but first of all I would really like to focus on the social problems. I want to make sure that all the social categories feel comfortable about their way of living, I want to make sure that people with disabilities have the same commodities as normal people, I want to make sure that each social category receives fair medical treatment and that nobody is discriminated based on race, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, etc. Moldova needs to learn about protecting all its citizens, of not favoring anyone.

I want to have the confidence that in some years every young child will have the opportunity to receive a good education, to find a place to work and have a decent life. I have many hopes for my community and for the future in general. I find it hard to not think about changing things when the current situation is so miserable. I only wish people understood the need of adjusting their attitude to a more positive one. I’m sure that “One person can make a difference”. It’s just a lot easier to fight for a cause when you are not fighting alone.