Shchors Aratta

The Shchors Aratta has made its home in some unused rooms in a local primary school. They have started to run clubs but while the rooms are being converted to Aratta’s use these are still limited. By Christmas the main room was useable and the helpers, all of whom do the work in their spare time, are pushing on with the rest of the renovations, funded by BHA. Music and drama, often in English, play an important part of their activities and the children are fortunate to have an enthusiastic and talented team of adults caring for them.

The excellent team are looking forward to being able to give greater service the town and its surrounding villages. There are 15 families with handicapped children in Shchors and 30 in the district. The Mayor is a great supporter of the venture and together they hope to alleviate some of the problems in this once affluent railway centre.

During our visit the music school, which works with them, was having a concert for “Teachers’ Day”. The performances were of a high standard and it was good to see the involvement of many handicapped children. As well as the music school there are clubs in the town for wrestling and for sports. These are run by enthusiastic adults for the benefit of the children, especially the poorest, but lack facilities and equipment. Nevertheless, they get excellent results in district and regional competitions.

Here, again we visited children from the supported families …one of whom was Zhanna, a musical girl aged 15 yrs. She was born with a heart defect and also has a twisted kidney. Consultation urgently needed to decide on the possibilities of an operation.

Getting people to sponsor these children to help with medical treatment, or an operation, could be a good idea if we can set it up.