THAT VILLAGE IS VERY NEAR TO IZMIR UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS’ STUDENTS
“Orada bir köy var uzakta!” (There is a Village Far Away) is a well-known children’s song. Students of Izmir University of Economics (IUE) couldn’t keep still about that call for help from those far away villages. The letter of Mustafa Murat Sönmez, the P.E teacher of the school at Bereketli Village located at İdil, Şırnak, set the IUE students in motion to help the young students there.
The teacher, who is working under harsh conditions at a border village, touched the young people in the IUE Council and Clubs Unit deeply. The students, of IUE Kızılay (Turkish Red Crescent) Club and Translation Club, are collecting stationery, sports materials, computers, winter clothes, and books for the future university students in their aid campaign.
‘Will you hear out the village teacher?’
Mustafa Murat Sönmez, the first P.E teacher of the school at Bereketli Village, stated in his letter that when children called him ‘teacher’ their eyes sparkled. So, the students of Izmir Economics wanted these sparkling eyes to laugh and have a bright future ahead of them. They started an aid campaign for those 110 children. Sönmez, who started his letter as “Will you hear out a village teacher?” expressed his call for help with the following sentences:
“I work as a P.E teacher at Bereketli Village elementary/secondary school located at İdil, Şırnak. Just like the others, I had prejudgements about coming here. It is very different to have an opinion about Şırnak as an outsider than to live here. I am a teacher and I fell in love with the sparkling eyes of the children here as they call me ‘teacher’, and their hearts filled with love. I am the first P.E teacher in this village. Everyone is surprised to see a teacher wandering around in sweat suits. They are shy but so warm-hearted…We are here to guide these hearts, to teach them about love, brotherhood, how to fight against ignorance. Ours is a small school with around 110 students. It is a new school so everything is limited.”
Sönmez listed the items they needed in his letter and pointed out those children were the future generations they are entrusted with.
‘Help us help these kids’
Sönmez also stated that they were unable to do P.E. lessons due to missing materials and each time the kids got so disappointed that he failed in cheering them up. He stated that there were only a few numbers of balls they could purchase, and ended his letter by saying, “I have been working here for 3 years. I am assigned a different village school each year. Help us please, come see for yourself how strong the sparkles in the eyes of these kids are… Lend a hand to us and to these kids. Please remember that even a small help will be able to make us and these children happy for a lifetime.”
“The call is not unanswered”
Müge Altınçınar, President of IUE Translation Club, stated that the teacher’s call for help touched them deeply and they immediately started an aid campaign to collect the materials for the students in the border village. Altınçınar indicated that their aid campaign would not be limited to Bereketli Village Elementary School only; they would start campaigns for students in the Western regions also.
Burak Sezen, President of IUE Kızılay (Turkish Red Crescent) Club, mentioned that they would transfer the supply boxes with the help of Kızılay, and he said, “These campaigns should be made continuously. Therefore, we did not make a seasonal plan. We are ready to help the young students so that they can have a better education. We are working on this. We are open to help from everyone, not only from the University.
