AMSTERDAM (AlertNet) - A Dutch documentary about elderly Moldovans who live in extreme poverty has struck a cord with thousands of Dutch, prompting them to donate to a project helping pensioners in poor countries.

The project called "Adopt a Granny" provides basic necessities and medical care to over 1,200 elderly people in eastern Europe and Africa by asking sponsors, mainly Dutch individuals, to donate 22.70 euros ($28.02) per month.

The initiators of the campaign, Christian relief organisation Dorcas Aid International, said on Wednesday they expected the number of sponsors to double soon from a current 12,000 as a result of the film broadcast on Dutch TV on Sunday.

"We are overwhelmed by phone calls. The documentary had an amazing effect," said Bart Lont, manager of Dorcas' sponsorship department.

The film showed three elderly Moldovan women, forced to live in miserable conditions without electricity and heat as their monthly pensions of below 20 euros could hardly buy enough food.

"I'm waiting for my death," said one of the women, who lives alone in a shabby, ghost-like house in a remote village.

Another pensioner, the blind Ana, lives with her 14-year grand-daughter who tried to commit a suicide.

"Look at us -- what kind of life is that?" the girl asked.

A former Soviet Republic, Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe with a third of its 4.4 million population living on around $1 a day.

Pensioners in the former Soviet bloc and eastern Europe have been among the most severely affected after the collapse of Communism some 16 years ago as the transition to a market economy and inflation have erased savings and lowered incomes.

The donors of "Adopt a Granny", launched in 2003, can select to help an elderly man or woman in Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Egypt, Ethiopia and Lesotho.

Those targeted are mainly single or handicapped people who live in extreme poverty, Lont said.

Dorcas plans to expand the project to Armenia and Bosnia.

($1=.8102 Euro)