Maarja Village

In South-Estonia, near the villages Kiidjärve and Taevaskoja you can find Maarja Village. Surrounded by forest with the beautiful Ahja river nearby and the Kiidjärve lake only 2 km away, Maarja village offers a home to 33 young adults with learning disabilities. Here they try to live an active and independent life with the support and friendship of assistants and teachers living and working together with them.

The village has 5 different family houses, a workshop building and a vegetable and fruit garden. We believe that also people with learning disabilities have the potential and possibilities to develop. Too often this kind of children just stay with their family after they grew up and everything is done for them. In Maarja village they learn to become more independent. They learn how to take care of themselves and can develop new skills in different workshops. As adult people they learn to live without mother and father next to them. Many of them still visit often their families of course, but in the same time Maarja Village has become like a family for them.

Usually life in the village just goes on like everywhere else. After breakfast everybody has their activities to do: courses of gardening school, village work that has to be done (in the garden, forest or workshop), taking care of the vegetables and fruit that we grow ourselves, preparing lunch and diner, …

After work there is also time to socialize, to do some sports, cultural activities or just to relax together. In the evening we sit together to watch a movie or to play a game. Once a week to the swimming pool. Often it is also just party time to celebrate birthdays, midsummer or the new year for example.