BY BARIŞ SEVİ (PSYC/IV)
Last weekend, volunteers from DHDP (the Railroad Support Project, a unit of TDP/Social Awareness Projects) hosted students from Çerikli Atatürk Middle School in Kırıkkale.
DHDP conducts two main events every year, one each semester. In the spring semester, DHDP volunteers go to help out and spend time with students at a village school outside of Ankara, and in the fall DHDP brings children from the same school to Ankara for an outing.
For its spring project last year, DHDP went to Çerikli Atatürk Middle School. The volunteers spent 4 days and 3 nights in the village, staying on railway sleeping cars and organizing a variety of activities for the schoolchildren. Last weekend, the children came to visit the volunteers.
A big tour of Ankara had been planned for them. They were shown around the Bilkent campus, visited Anıtkabir, the Feza Gürsey Science Museum and the Keçiören Aquarium, took part in an interactive show with Bilkent theater students, and finished the day with a dinner at the Table d’Hote Restaurant. This weekend of learning and fun was enjoyed equally by the 40 students from Kırıkkale and the 30 volunteer hosts.