Doing Good While Dodging Pigeons, Storms
Under the umbrella of the Social Erasmus Project, a mixed group of international exchange students, regular Bilkent students, and two exchange students from METU traveled to the province of Şanlıurfa to provide elementary school students with scholastic supplies and to open dialogue with the schools in the area for future trips. Their goal was to introduce Anatolia to the exchange students, provide help for the teachers in the area, and collect funds to achieve this goal.
Leaving Bilkent at 7 p.m. for the first town of Siverek, they were chased across Eastern Turkey by screaming storms. After 14 hours of being buffeted by the wind, they arrived in Siverek where they were greeted by the curious students and a rain of pigeons. The wind had reached such a speed that it was flinging the poor birds out the air in predictably fatal trajectories.
Braving these conditions the students carried the boxes of supplies (purchased by the generous donations of students, faculty, and concerned philanthropists) into the schoolroom. After a short discussion with the students, who were jubilant at the chance to practice their surprisingly advanced English skills, the students remounted their bus, deftly avoiding the ballistic avian projectiles, and started on their way to Şanlıurfa.
The group arrived Urfa around 11 in the morning. Dropping off the majority of the supplies at the school, the students spent some time playing basketball with the children and helping drop the supplies off to the library. Books, computers, and writing material were the order of the day at 11 Nisan İlköğretim Okulu.
This was followed by dinner and a retreat to the dormitories of Harran University for a well-deserved rest.
In the morning the exchange students sampled some of Urfa's excellent katmer. They toured the city for a short while before beginning the long 16-hour trek back to Ankara.
The Social Erasmus Project aims not only to provide charity to those in need but also to familiarize the exchange students with parts of their host country. It is hoped with a better understanding of the needs of said community that exchange students will better understand their host society as a whole. For more information on future trips you can contact Fırat Şenol (537) 922-4930 or Salih Odabaşı (506) 672-2313.