EVENT | Inclusive Presentations and games in Vardim

This week our team went to Svishtov to implement its activities; specifically, I am interested in inclusion and in the topic of multiculturalism, I have past experiences in the teaching of the Italian language to foreign people in my town in Italy so I would like to go into detail with the field of education here.

I went to Vardim where, during summertime, there are local children playing and enjoying their time in the streets. In summertime it’s difficult to organize frontal classes because teenagers actually just want to have fun after a whole school year. Therefore, my idea was to act through gamification (use of games for educational aims): In Vardim I proposed some presentation activities to children: initially they had to guess our group member names and our team had to guess childrens names through a hangman game. Later I proposed an activity in which they had to write on a paper their own interests without specifying their identity. After doing this, all of them had to put these papers in the middle and catch one randomly.

All of them read the interests in the paper they chose, trying to find similarities with their own interests and trying to guess the owner of the paper. It has been a nice moment for breaking the ice and to get to know each other better. Finally, we played all together hide-and-seek in the area next to the theatre. Actually I found this moment very important to establish a more spontaneous connection with the group and to enforce the initial presentation. It was very nice to understand how much simple games simple count in order to create the group in childhood but also in adolescence. I am so happy with experience both for what I learned and for what I hoped to have transmitted.

Furthermore, the day after I collaborated on an activity organized by the volunteers in Svishtov. Children were required to rake leaves for each species of plant present in the area in order to prepare a collection.

Giulia Ciccarelli

HR &Training Department intern

VIE+W | Minority groups in Bulgaria

Last week I went to Svishtov, Veliko Tarnovo, Varna and Burgas. I met a lot of people from minority groups. Almost all of them talk about the same thing: poverty.

During a week-long trip to the north and east of Bulgaria, I saw that people from minority groups generally talk about the same things. They talk about their low wages and their financial difficulties. Apart from that, some Bulgarian people express their discomfort with them.

They do not want the assimilation campaign of the past to be repeated. The suffering of people in those years was so great that they do not want their children to see and experience such an environment. They said that after the communist era passed, they now live more comfortably and more free, but sometimes criticized by the Bulgarians. I would like to tell you about an incident that I personally experienced.

While we were being vaccinated at the hospital, the nurse told us why we are here, to leave the country, and said nothing to our Italian friends. It's really sad that things like this happen. Everyone can live in peace as long as no one bothers anyone. I saw that some stereotypes and prejudices continued in Bulgaria. However, I noticed that there is no such distinction between young people. With my experience, I can clearly say that racism decreases as the average age decreases. The person I interviewed in Svishtov was also advocating this. He said: “The important thing is to be human. Now everyone is looking their own way. I am guiding young people to live in a more peaceful society.

Whether they are Christians, Muslims, Bulgarians or Turks, as long as people sit down and try to understand each other.” These thoughts are really valuable and I think everyone should listen to these words. I think these ideas should be instilled in children at a young age in schools. Thus, a more peaceful society can be achieved in the future.

This person I interviewed also said that reading is really important, but because of poverty, many children can't afford to study. Children who do not receive a good education also acquire bad habits or tend to do harm. I think governments should support the educational life of every child. I hope things get better with education. In addition to this, I interviewed with the vice mayor who is from that minority group. He argued that minority groups should be involved in society and should be supported and said that otherwise they would live together and count in the same place without adding anything to them.

When I went to a neighborhood with Roma people, I saw people living in miserable conditions. I think these people should be educated as well. Because they have more than three children although their financial situation is not good. It doesn't make sense to take responsibility for so many children when they can't even take care of themselves. Apart from that, another thing I saw in the neighborhood was the old and bedridden couple. After the fire in the neighborhood, their houses were damaged and although the firefighters said they would help, no one helped. The people living there think that they cannot get help from anyone because they are gypsies and speak Turkish.

To sum up, I think the most important thing is to educate people. It is very important to do this starting from a young age. Because at a young age, it is much easier to put certain things in children’s heads. I also think that adults should be given lessons on issues such as sexuality and life and I hope in the future everything will become better and brighter.

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Mustafa Tuncer, volunteer@ICDET

USEFUL | Lets go to know Turkey by Mustafa Tuncer

●You all know the Republic of Turkey. However, Where did the Turks come from in Anatolia?

● The Turks originally lived in a large area in Central Asia. However, they immigrated all over the world with the desire to discover new places in time due to Chinese and Mongolian pressures. The Chinese, who were in constant war with the Turks, built the Great Wall of China, but they could not stop the Turks. Mete Han, who captured China, thought that the Turks would be assimilated here because the Chinese were a very crowded community and did not want to stay in China. Thus, he only taxed them.

● Here you can see some Turkish states established all over the world from the past to the present.

●After a brief history, let's talk about today’s Turkey. The Republic of Turkey is located on the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and a small enclave in Thrace in the Balkan region of Southeast Europe. Turkey has a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea in the south and east and on the Black Sea in the north. Its capital is not Istanbul, it is Ankara. The reason for this is that Ankara is located almost in the center of the country and is safer against enemy invasion. Turkish lira is used as currency and 83 million people live in Turkey.

● You know the Turkish flag, but now I want to explain its meaning to you. Crescent represents islamic religion, star represents independence and the red color represents blood of martyrs.

Here, I wanted to show our neighboring countries. Turkey has 8 neighbors. These are Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Syria

● The weather is generally cold and dry in the eastern Anatolian region, but the weather gets warmer as you go to the west.

● Turkey's male and female population is almost the same. While the female population is 49.9%, the male population is 50.1%.

● After general information about Turkey, let's take a look at its regions. There are 7 regions in Turkey. These; Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean, Central Anatolia, Black Sea, Eastern Anatolia and Southeast Anatolia regions.

● Turkey's 10 most populated cities are İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Bursa, Antalya, Adana, Konya, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep and Kocaeli.

● Now I want to show you 10 tourist places in Turkey. It is impossible for me to show them all because Turkey is a big country. Let me first start with the city I live in, Istanbul. If you come to Istanbul, I think you should visit Topkapi palace and the historical peninsula. The historical artifacts on Mount Nemrut in Adiyaman are also worth seeing. But I must warn you about the heat in the summer months. The air temperature varies between 32-47 degrees. And I strongly recommend you to visit amasra, which is connected to Bartın. Of course, don't miss seeing the ancient city in Izmir and other historical artifacts around it. According to NASA's statement, Jezero Crater discovered on Mars and Salda Lake in Turkey have many things in common. You can also visit this lake. And of course, everyone's dream is Cappadocia... Here you can explore underground cities and ride balloons at a romantic sunset, if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend :D and here I take you to the eastern black sea region of turkey. Artvin is a city famous for its natural beauties. You should definitely visit. And of course, Kemaliye, which is one of the most important places for me. I live in Istanbul to benefit from education and job opportunities, but I am originally from Kemaliye. Here you can see the double minaret madrasah, which is one of the many beauties of Erzurum. You should also visit Pamukkale travertines, one of the natural beauties.

● Yes, let's have a look at the food. Turkish cuisine is very rich and delicious. I have chosen 10 dishes for you here and it is impossible to show them all. İskender, zeytinyağlı yaprak sarması, Adana kebab, mantı, sütlaç, kadayıf dolması ve içli köfte.

● Let's talk about a few national days after the food culture. National sovereignty and Children's day. It is the only holiday, which is devoted to all the children of the world by Kemal Atatürk. Also, today is the day when the Turkish Grand National Assembly was opened. And of course we also have the victory day that every country has. Victory Day is a public holiday in Turkey commemorating the decisive victory in the Battle of Dumlupınar, on 30 August 1922. It is also observed in Northern Cyprus. And the proclamation of the Turkish Republic. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who saved Turkey from enemy occupation and declared the republic and gave people their freedom, is commemorated on this day. 18 March Çanakkale Victory is also a very important day for the Turks. It is the day when the Allied Powers realized that they could not exploit the Turks.

● And I would like to tell you a few interesting facts about Turkey. First tulips were brought to Europe from Turkey. When witchcraft and superstitions became widespread in Europe, people began to execute witches and cats. As a result of the decline of cats, the food chain was disrupted and rats began to increase in Europe and the plague began to spread. The Ottoman state sent a shipload of cats to Europe to solve the problem. Although there are similarities between Turkish and Arab cultures, Turks are very different from Arabs and today's Turkey is closer to the West. Turkey provides 80% of the world's hazelnut exports. Nutella gets its hazelnuts from Turkey. “Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine” is the longest word in Turkish. It roughly translates to “As though you are from those whom we may not be able to easily make into a maker of unsuccessful ones” and has 70 letters. It's not in common usage.

● And finally, I would like to give you a brief information about the Sitoded association that sent me here and supported me at every moment. If you want to participate in a project in a beautiful city like Erzurum in Turkey, sitoded may be the best choice for this. Thank you for reading.