Rift House lass who now calls Moldova home
SHARON Eason swapped life in the UK and all her creature comforts for living on bare essentials.
The 55-year-old Hartlepool born mum of three has lived in Moldova, in eastern Europe, for the last 18 months.
She is there as part of a mercy mission to improve the lives of the local community.
EMMA GREENHALGH caught up with her during a short break in England.
SHARON Eason has just made a 1,700 mile journey across eastern Europe.
She is back in Rispeni, a small village in Moldova, where she has been living for the past 18 months.
It's quite a change from the Rift House estate in Hartlepool where she grew up.
But life in Moldova is something she has experienced and enjoyed for some years now – even before she moved there permanently.
She said: "I used to go every summer and do something in the same village, building cow sheds and running a holiday club for children."
It was after her divorce that her life was sent in a different direction.
"I was freed up and thought I might go out there long-term and learn to speak the language."
Sharon, who attended the old Brierton Hill Technical school for girls, which was on the site of the current Brierton Community School, in Hartlepool, started her career as a nurse at the old St Hilda's Hospital.
Sharon's career also saw her move into midwifery and when she was around 20-years-old she left Hartlepool to live in Billingham.
Her work took her into pharmaceuticals and eventually she moved to live in the Midlands.
A new role working for a youth group that organised trips to Romania and Moldova to work on building projects introduced Sharon to the country she would eventually call home.
She said: "I fell in love with Moldova and thought wouldn't it be great to do something longer term and give something back.
"I have been blessed with fantastic jobs. I did become a Christian in my 40s which changed everything and I thought it was the time."
Sharon, mum of Samantha, 31, Kate, 30, and Paul, 27, initially spent three months in the country and then moved over there on a more permanent basis.
Teenagers from the youth group at All Saints' Church, in the Stranton area of Hartlepool, are fundraising to join Sharon in Moldova and work on the project to build the old people's home.
At the beginning of June, 12 plucky people abseiled off the 70ft church tower to raise funds for the trip. The brave team ranged from eight-year-old Benjamin Hall, to 50-plus Andrew Rogers, although most were around the 12-16 age.
The event is hoped to have raised around 500 although sponsorship is still coming in.
Peter Hart, church youth worker, said: " It was easily one of the hardest things many of us have done. It was not a simple abseil, it required negotiating round the bells to get to the roof.
"To get down it required clambering over the wall on top of the tower to reach a very small ledge before we could lean back and abseil properly.
"And this was all despite the weather forecast predicting heavy rain all morning, when thankfully it stayed dry and calm."
The group's visit to Moldova next summer will be their second to the country.
Sharon said: "We are planning on turning an old building into an old people's home.
"There are lots of old people in Moldova because families move away to find work and we will give them a home where they are loved and cared for."
She said that when the group come out next summer they will be looking at how to help the community live independently by growing their own crops and farming animals.
She said: "It's very different to the UK. The average wage over here is 14 a month so a large per cent of the population are unemployed, about 70 per cent, and live off their own home-grown vegetables and meals.
"It's very bleak. Everybody uses a horse and cart. It's a third world country in the middle of Europe. But I love it because the people are lovely."
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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