One month after the start of the war in Ukraine, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom visited Moldova to meet with children and families fleeing Ukraine as refugees.
During his two-day trip, Bloom visited the UNICEF-sponsored „Blue Dot” space in Palanca, a place that provides support for women and children crossing the Ukrainian border in search of safety and peace.
“It was heartbreaking to see this family and so many others crossing the border after long journeys, with only a few goods and not knowing where their journey would end.”
UNICEF and UNHCR, in partnership with governments and civil society organizations, have established three „Blue Dots” in Moldova along key refugee routes. These unique safe spaces provide information to traveling families, help identify unaccompanied and separated children and ensure their protection, being a center for essential services.
Since the start of the war on February 24, more than 1.8 million children have fled Ukraine, and tens of thousands have fled to Moldova. Many refugees continue to travel to other countries, while almost 100,000 – half of them children – have remained in Moldova with host families, volunteers or government-run refugee centers.
During his trip, Bloom also met with several children and families at the „Moldexpo” refugee center in Chisinau, one of more than 100 centers in Moldova where refugees can sleep, access medical and legal services and have hot meals before and continue the journey.
At the center, Bloom met with a family of five who fled Ukraine earlier this week, having only the clothes they were wearing and a small sum of money. After arriving in Moldova and spending five nights at Moldexpo, a local family offered to host them until they completed the paperwork to move on.