Makosheno Aratta

The Makosheno Village Charity Organisation (Converts of Aratta) started life based in an ancient “Palace of Culture” that, at present, has no heating and a leaking roof. Fortunately, they receive great support from their Mayor who is very active in trying to improve the lives of the children. He has helped with the refurbishment of a smaller more practical building alongside the centre.

They are currently running 15 activity groups, attended by 200 participants from Makosheno and other nearby villages, plus a gymnastics club and soccer and volleyball teams that cater for a further 80.

The gymnastics club is trained to a particularly high standard, while the soccer teams are also successful, representing Mena and taking the first two places in the local league.

The five people on the enthusiastic board currently focus their efforts on helping the poorest, with the children coming from 55 large families, 32 single parent families, 8 incapable families, plus 16 Chernobyl victims and another 7 handicapped children.

They have a clothing exchange that is proving successful but desperately need our help to enable them to do as much as they would like.
A data base of the poor families in the area has been set up and monitoring of the needs for aid, its distribution and use is in place.

During June they will be running a “Holiday Club” for children whose parents are at that time heavily committed to working in the fields. This year, with our help, they are extending the activities to cover the afternoons.

Potential projects for the future are the renovation of a disused sanatorium so that it could be used as a holiday centre for children from towns in the region and the setting up of an “old peoples home” at Stolne.