Turkish businesswomen building orphanage in Burundi


Date posted: January 13, 2014

SEVGİ AKARÇEŞME

A group of Turkish businesswomen watched the foundation for an orphanage they funded being laid on Sunday in Burundi.

The orphanage is part of an effort to save children orphaned by the country’s 1993-2005 civil war from a life in makeshift shelters and miserable conditions.

Over a dozen Turkish businesswomen visited Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, which neighbors Kenya and Rwanda in East Africa, from Friday to Sunday with an aid program organized by the İstanbul-based nonprofit Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) foundation.

Early on Sunday, a modest groundbreaking ceremony was held, attended by Burundi representative of the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) Mustafa Arslan, Africa coordinator of the Kimse Yok Mu foundation Orhan Erdoğan and the Turkish businesswomen who paid for the orphanage.

Following a heartbreaking visit on Friday to the run-down, two-room building in poverty-stricken Bujumbura that is used as a home for Muslim children who lost their parents, mostly in the civil war, the Kimse Yok Mu delegation started a campaign to raise money for the building of a brand-new orphanage in the city immediately. The owner of the current orphanage has asked staff to move out as soon as possible.

A gynecologist, Dr. Berra Önsoy Gidemez, decided to take the lead and took responsibility for the project, along with President of the World Businesswomen Association in İstanbul (DÜNYADER) Esra Kavurmacı.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Gidemez said that she was especially affected by the delegation’s visit to the Muslim orphanage because of the terrible living conditions of the children. “I imagined having to tuck my son into one of those beds and couldn’t sleep in the hotel on the night after the visit,” she said.

Gidemez said she would partially finance the orphanage herself and started a fundraising campaign among her patients on her social media page. “No parent could remain indifferent to the scenes that we witnessed in the orphanage,” she added, describing the orphanage’s dirty clothes and closets, primitive kitchen and unhygienic conditions.

The current run-down orphanage is managed by an aging war widow named Faiza, and hosts 37 children of different ages.

In a country of approximately 9 million, there are 800,000 orphans across Burundi.

Kimse Yok Mu cooperates with Burundi’s first lady

The Kimse Yok Mu delegation met the first lady of Burundi in her hometown on Saturday in another orphanage, which the Turkish association completely furnished.

The Turkish businesswomen visited the Buntu Foundation headed by the first lady of Burundi, Denise Nkurunziza, in the city of Ngozi, approximately three hours from Bujumbura.

The first lady thanked the Kimse Yok Mu delegation for their cooperation with Burundi officials, adding that at the new orphanage, vocational training will be given to orphans who were not able to continue school due to war in the country.

Kavurmacı thanked the first lady for hosting the Turkish businesswomen, adding that their only concern is educating new generations.

İstanbul-based artist Günseli Kato presented the first lady a handmade accessory that she designed before Nkurunziza gave the delegation a tour of the orphanage.

A Burundi local who studied engineering at Dokuz Eylül University in İzmir, Joseph Bizimana, served as the interpreter during the meeting.

The Turkish women’s delegation also visited an orphanage and a rehabilitation center for handicapped children led by Christian aid organizations in Bujumbura.

The delegation, which also met with local businesspeople, left Burundi for Kenya on Sunday. (Cihan/Today’s Zaman)

Source: Cihan , January 13, 2014


Related News

Kimse Yok Mu opens two orphanages, Quran course in Senegal

Turkish charity association Kimse Yok Mu which operates in many parts of the world opened two orphanages for orphan students and a Quran course in Senegal.

A Prayer to the Volunteers of Kimse Yok Mu from the Islands of Comoros

The Muslim population, having donated the plot of land on which the Turkish school in the island of Comoros will be built, dressed in their most festive garments and gathered in the forested land to pray. They were praying so that the foundation of the school could be laid as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the […]

Tajik president urges Turkish firms to make mining investments

TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL Tajik President Emomali Rahmon called on Turkish businessmen on Monday to take advantage of Tajikistan’s rich mining resources and to increase economic relations between the two countries. Speaking to participants at the Tajik-Turkish Business Forum organized by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) in Konya, Rahmon said his country’s economic […]

Ethiopian and Turkish Business Tycoons Met

Ethiopian and Turkish business tycoons met here in Ethiopia at the Ethiopian Chambers of Commerce and Sectoral Associations’ office for the purpose of surfing business opportunities in the two countries.

President of Zambia Mr. Rupiah Banda thanks Turkish investors in education

President Banda said he had been to Turkey twice and was impressed with the country’s standards of education and that is why he had requested Turkish partners to come to Zambia and work with the Government in the pursuit of quality education. Mr. Rupiah Banda has advised the Ministry of Education to pay serious attention […]

NTIC’s growing support help 13000 underprivileged children

Throughout our 18 year history, NTIC (Nigerian Turkish International Colleges) demonstrated a continued hard work in providing educational opportunities to the less privileged students through NTIC Foundation.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Parents slam Pak-Turk Schools possible handover to Maarif Foundation

Post-Kemalist but still illiberal Turkey

Behind the war over prep schools [in Turkey]

US Professor Carter: Gülen struggles for peace against poverty and terrorism

Police takes careful approach on Turkish schools issue

On Gülen vs Erdogan – “And not equal are the good deed and the bad”

Gulen says he is certain Erdogan behind failed Turkey coup

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News