Our ESC Volunteering in Turkey
“Traveling at a young age is educational, and when you are older you travel to gain positive experiences.”
Hello everybody!
We are Nerma Mustafic and Emina Selimovic. Let us tell you about our volunteering experience. In the period between June and August 2021, we were lucky to go to Sanliurfa. Sanliurfa is a beautiful city in the south of Turkey. We were a part of the volunteering program “Way of Volunteer” for the GAP Gençlik Derneği organization. We heard about this program through the Svitac (Firefly Bosnia), an organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina that sent us there. This was our first ESC (European Solidarity Corps) program.
We spent two months in Sanliurfa and had numerous duties. We worked with Syrian refugees (children and youth work). We provided English classes for the children in kindergarten and also hosted separate workshops for Syrian adults who were seeking employment. Alongside this, we had online classes with Turkish students from different cities in Turkey.
This journey gave us a chance to learn more about Turkish culture, tradition and history. During this period we travelled a lot. We saw so many beautiful places such as Gobeklitepe, Mardin, Harran, Halfeti and Diyarbakir. Great memories were made here with other volunteers who are now good friends.
It was a great experience for us and we are grateful that we had this opportunity. We would like to thank the GAP Youth Association and Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) who gave us this opportunity. A special thanks to Miloš (sending mentor) and Viyan (host mentor) who were there for whatever we needed. We will cherish this experience and the beautiful memories we made along the way. If you ever get the chance to visit Sanliurfa, take it; you will not regret it.
Nerma Mustafic and Emina Selimovic
June – August 2021
