Volunteer on a Farm in Turkey

One of the Turkish girls had me over to her Grandparents house right on the sea of Mamara. They owned a fruit farm and I got to try an amazing assortment of home grown fruit. And the food was all home made and delicious. I just remember the beautiful sunset over the water. I could see for miles down stream. No one really spoke English, so we had to rely on pure emotion as a form of communication. It brought a tear to my eye that night and still does.

For three weeks this summer, I volunteered with Genctur, a volunteer organization based in Istanbul, Turkey. Our workcamp was located in Yenisakran, which is a small town ten hours from Istanbul right on the Aegean Sea. It was a beautiful location for the international summer camp where teenagers from throughout Europe traveled to spend a week. The focus of the camp, Genc Tatil, was for the campers (with help of the staff) to create a film documentary about their experiences and the history they learned about Turkey from their time there. During the course of the camp, I taught English, Music and helped with sporting activities. We would have hour long sessions each day where I was able to organize my class and direct the activities and games we played. During the camp we also had day trips where we traveled to the Acropolis, Asklepion (an ancient hospital) and Bergama (a nearby city with ancient ruins). We also hiked the countryside of Turkey through the sea and to the top of nearby mountains.

I feel that the staff and campers were able to bond through this time and also through the staff participating in each activity of the day. Each evening, we met to review the day's successes and discussed what needed to be altered for the following day to run more smoothly. The staff was friendly and the children were very eager to learn and to meet new people. Not only was it a beneficial experience for the kids (and staff) to travel to Turkey and volunteer at the camp, but by meeting new people from different backgrounds with different visions really helped shaped the camp. It was a very welcoming environment. It was an amazing experience, and I'm very glad I was able to be part of such a great camp.

The Dreams Academy (DA)is an new, innovative arts/sports program in Istanbul, Turkey. The DA's target population is both the disabled and disadvantaged youth from the city.

The Dreams Academy works in tandem with the United Nations Development Program in Istanbul (UNDP) and with Vodafone (a sponsor).

The focus of this project is social inclusion realized with very creative projects, i.e., their Social Inclusion Band which performs monthly at a nightclub and at music festivals.