Empower 300 Girls through Education in Turkey

May 2014 Update

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” – African Proverb

Dilek, a 6^th grader from Erzurum, Turkey, is just another young girl who hopes to become a teacher someday. Unfortunately, if she doesn’t receive financial support, she will not be able to fulfill her dream, and what is worse is that she may be forced by her family to get married before she reaches 18 due to economic hardship.

Deniz is a senior journalism student in college who aspires to earn a doctorate degree in communication & jourmalism and educate new generations of journalists to high standards of quality in journalism while working towards achieving an independent, objective, free press in Turkey. 

Bahar is a second year law student in Istanbul who wants to make a difference in establishing judicial systems that would build a Turkish society free from gender, ethnic, and religious discrimination, and achieving freedom of speech and expression in her country.

Duygu, a senior student, studying business administration at the Istanbul University whose dream is to be a world-renowned economist and win the Nobel Prize in economics some day. Duygu realizes that this is a challenging goal to achieve; however, she believes that everything begins with believing in yourself and following your dreams. And all significant, so-called impossible achievements in this world were accomplished by those who followed their dreams, took courageous strides, and believed that they would could happen.

These are just a few of the 85 bright young women supported through the BTF’s Girls’ Empowerment Scholarships Program in 2014.

The illiteracy rate among young women in the eastern and southeastern Turkey is estimated at 45 percent. For many years, the Turkish government and various NGOs have worked to improve the situation. But the economic hardship, restrictive traditions, distance to schools, and insufficient number of dormitories prevented many girls from access to education.

According to CNNTurk’s special report on 4/23/14, the rate of girls attending school after primary school sharply declined in Turkey. For example, unschooled girls after primary school in eastern Anatolia are estimated at 74% and 82.7% in the southeastern Anatolia.

Despite the difficulties they face, these girls have high hopes for a better future just like any young girl growing up in developed countries.  We know that educating girls has enormous social and economic benefits and has been identified as a primary means toward national development. This is why the BTF’s Girls’ Empowerment Program focuses on providing financial support to bright young women from poor families and who show the most potential for success.

Next academic year, we wish to expand the scholarship program to support 100 deserving young women and girls to help them get an education so that they can be productive members of their communities.

We greatly appreciate your continued support, generosity, and contributions to this important cause and enabling us to make a real difference in the lives of these young women and girls. Please continue to support this program so that we can help more young women to rise out of poverty and give them their future by visiting: http://goto.gg/9853.

We are counting on your continued support. Future generations are counting on you.

Sincerely, 

The BTF Team

Bridge to Turkiye Fund - Providing Scholarships to Disadvantaged Turkish Girls - January 2014 Update

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use TO CHANGE THE WORLD!” – Nelson Mandela

We hope you had an enjoyable holiday season with family and friends and looking forward to all the great things the New Year has to offer. 

2013 has been a remarkable year for the Bridge to Turkiye Fund’s (BTF’s) Girls’ Empowerment Scholarships Program, thanks to the continued support and dedication from people like you. We are excited and proud to report that, in its fourth year of existence, we’ve been able to grow the scholarship program from 27 to 80 academically gifted but economically disadvantaged girls from rural communities in Turkey. When considering that our goal in 2013 was to support 50 girls, this was truly an amazing achievement.

We continue to collaborate with our trusted partner in Turkey, the Association for Supporting Contemporary Life (Çagdas Yasam Destekleme Dernegi [CYDD]). This year, we’ve changed the program’s focus to support high school and college students while we continue to support our existing elementary and middle school students. Going forward, any new scholar will be a high school or university student to address the issue that 34 percent of girls don’t attend high school, drop out rates are very high, and attendance in universities is very low in Turkey. For many of these girls, education ends prematurely due to poverty. Therefore, these scholarships are vital to keeping these girls in school.

We believe that every girl deserves the best possible chance at living her dream, but they can't do it alone. They need a helping hand along the way. That's why BTF has made it a priority to help children and promote gender equality in Turkey through educational scholarships. With your generous support, we're working towards bridging the gender gap in Turkey by helping women and girls achieve full potential and participation in every aspect of our society.

Over the past three years, we have been amazed at how quickly the BTF’s Girls’ Empowerment Scholarship Program has grown, and how much good it has done. We believe that the best is yet to come and we have big plans for 2014. Next academic year, we wish to expand the scholarship program to support 100 deserving young women and girls to help them get an education so that they can be productive members of their communities.

We believe that, with your support, there are no limits to what we can achieve together. And in 2014, as we expand our program to support more girls, we will need your help more than ever. There's no better time to lend your support for the work ahead. Please join us as we continue to build a better world and a brighter future for girls in rural Turkey. We can’t do this important work without you.

Can you help us kick off 2014 stronger than ever? Please SPONSOR a student and help her rise out of poverty and give her hope for a better future by visiting: http://goto.gg/9853.

We wish you and your loved ones a very happy and healthy New Year and extend our gratitude from everyone at BTF.

Very Truly Yours,

Bridge to Türkiye Fund