A very weekend is a busy one for Bilkent students active in Voluntary Education Projects (GEP). The oldest program associated with the Social Awareness Projects (TDP) student volunteer organization, GEP actually encompasses three separate projects directed toward three different target groups. What they all have in common is their main purpose: improving children’s academic and social skills.
With both university students and children attending school during the week, and with three projects operating under the GEP umbrella, Saturdays and Sundays are a beehive of activity. For example, here’s what went on during the weekend of March 2–3.
On Saturday, volunteers with the School Project, which targets disadvantaged children from rural areas, taught classes in mathematics and English to help children succeed in their upcoming exams. And then after class, volunteers taught basic coding as a part of the project’s “My Dream Job” program.
Also on Saturday, the Support for University Personnel Project organized a trip to MTA Museum for the children of Bilkent support staff – but only after the two-hour class session that the volunteers conduct each week to help the children in their studies. Everyone had fun at the museum while learning more about nature and animals.
And to wrap up a productive weekend, on Sunday volunteers with the 29H1G Project continued with their mission of helping Iraqi children learn to read and write in Turkish. That particular week, the children were learning the letters U, T and Y and beginning to use them in words. After Turkish class, the pupils enjoyed creating fancy masks and coloring them however they wanted.