By Ela Eskinazi | Vice President, Bridge to Turkiye Fund
Syrian children have lost loved ones, suffered injuries, and witnessed violence and brutality. They are at risk of becoming ill, malnourished, abused or exploited. 3,5 million refugees have been fleeing across the border into Turkey since 2011. In desperation, hundreds of thousands of refugees have attempted the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Greece. We all remember the children affected by the Syrian conflict and with your support we continue to work with our local NGO partners to offer programs and make a positive impact in their lives.
In this report, we will share our new partnership with the Team International Assistance for Integration (TIAFI). A volunteer-run organization lead by Anne O'Rorke who dedicated her time and energy in uplifting refugee communities with relentless efforts since the first days she witnessed the tragedy in Turkey. We got to know about Anne's efforts last year through working with other NGO's, and finally developed our philanthropic bridge with her in April 2018. TIAFI built a new community center based in a vacant facility located in an economically deprived neighborhood in 2017. The center hosts and serves a diverse population of both Syrian and Turkish people in Izmir, Turkey. Their primary goal is to empower vulnerable refugee women and their families in a safe, inclusive and supportive community center. TIAFI offers a range of support for the local refugee community including skill development, language lessons, legal support, healthcare-mobility support for the disabled children and offers a community kitchen.With the support of their dedicated volunteers, they provide nutritious lunches to vulnerable Turkish and Syrian people living in that local community. TIAFI team prepares more than 80 meals for the visitors each day. TIAFI also offers workshops where skills are taught such as sewing, jewelry making and leather crafting to improve Syrian women's prospects to enter the labor market in Turkey. They provide language lessons for kids and adults which is critical for social integration. TIAFI offers place where women who work or attend our programs can leave their children. The primary aim of the facility is to help the children acquire basic social and interpersonal skills, prepare them transition to formal education and schools and assist them with emotional development. Syrian volunteers living in the community works alongside with Turkish volunteers and psychologists to provide these services.
Very recently this past month in June, we provided 150 preschool education kits called “Getting Ready for School” along with our 4Kids kindergarten book set with 80 story books in Turkish for their use in their educational programs throughout the summer and after in their center. Lack of educational resources is one of the biggest challenges for the local and volunteer-run NGO's offering transitional education and we helped TIAFI fill this resources gap with our education kits and story books. In our previous reports in the series, we shared with you the content of these educational sets, and the learning objectives they enable with teachers. We hope you would see from the shared pictures in this report that the books were very well received and we were able to put a big smile in children's faces. The teachers reported that education kits and story books made the children so happy and they were proud owners. The children started to work on the activity books and crafts right away in the center. The teachers noted the fact that the education kits helped the children in learning basic skills & concepts and improved their Turkish vocabulary. The teachers were able to keep the children motivated and keep them focused on learning during the circle times and in other educational activities.
We would like to take this opportunity one more time to thank all of donors who have supported us in the past and continue to deliver impact for refugees in our 3'rd year. We are grateful for the Global Giving platform as a key partner in helping us bridge with a global audience to share their voice and their needs.
Thank you !
Bridge to Turkiye Fund
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