NİHAT POLAT, İSTANBUL As Turkey continues to help struggling African countries, many Turkish aid foundations are working to resolve Africa’s long-standing water supply problem by digging wells in countries across the continent. So far more than 20 million people in Africa and elsewhere have gained access to clean water thanks to the humanitarian work of […]
Hizmet Relief, shortly after changing its name, starts aid campaigns one after another. It finishes the “Cataract Campaign” and rushes to finalize “Water Wells Campaign.” The cataract campaign started in July, the Hizmet Relief had targeted to collect $10,000 to treat 100 people. $300 more was collected, which will give 103 people their eyesight back.
İREM KARAKAYA, ANKARA Recent attacks in Nigeria, apparently targeting the country’s Muslim population, have raised concerns in Turkey about the plight of Muslims in the war-torn African country, although the likelihood of an attack on the Turkish community in Nigeria doesn’t appear high at present. The Turkish Foreign Ministry released a written statement on Sunday […]
The Ufuk Doctors Association (UHEK), the İstanbul-based branch of the Marmara Health Federation (MASED), in a joint project with the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA), will visit the East African country of Tanzania, where the average life expectancy is 50 years, with a team of 47 medical personnel at the end of the month. […]
Doctor Lokman Cam, who had volunteered for three-month periods in Somalia over the past two years, eventually said: “They need us more” and moved to the country. Cam said his wife and three children at university showed the most support for his decision. Somalis, on the other hand, expressed their gratitude with the words: “You’ve […]
Dr. Lokman Çam, who went to Somalia as a volunteer twice in the past two years for three months each time, now migrated there. “They need us for longer – not for three months a year” he said. Soon after his decision, he received the most support from his wife and three children. Somalis expressed their gratitude with these words: “You’ve come to our aid when everyone else is abandoning us.”
Volunteer Turkish doctors conducted cataract surgery on more than 13,000 patients in Sudan and Somalia. Doctors from all over Turkey volunteered in South Darfur’s capital. A similar campaign is being maintained permanently by volunteer Turkish doctors in various regions of the African continent. One doctor recounted: “There was one family in which everyone was blind: the father, the mother and the kids. Their sight was returned to all of them.
Ugandan Foreign Affairs Minister Asuman Kiyingi said Turkish schools have paved the way for Turkey to reach out to Africa. “I would like to note that especially the Turkish schools underpin the outreach,” he said. The minister Kiyingi shared that they regard the local Turkish schools as the most significant investments Turkey has made in Uganda and that they offer an admirable service in moral education besides their academic achievements.
Turkish charity foundation Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) has offered aid packages to 1,650 families in famine-stricken Somalia, a country that has been in the grip of civil war and terrorism for many years and is currently one of the countries most affected by drought in East Africa, during the holy month of Ramadan. For this reason, Kimse Yok Mu has intensified its charitable efforts during the Ramadan, as it does every Ramadan.
Sudan is the country of children left orphaned due to civil war. Millions of Sudanese at hunger threshold are smiling at least a little thanks to aid from NGOs like Kimse Yok MU during Ramadan. In addition to another centrally-located orphanage’s renovation, KYM also seeks to finance orphans’ shelter and food needs. The orphans here are studying at a public school while they receive hafiz training from Sheikh Hasan Abdullah.
Abundance and blessings of the month Ramadan have reached out to Chad –one of the poorest African countries- in the form of Turkish people’s aid for orphans and the needy. KYM has delivered aid, in particular, to orphanages and foundations for the handicapped and widows in this central African country. 5,400 people have been provided iftar dinner at particularly at orphanages and handicapped facilities.
Kimse Yok Mu Foundation President Ismail Cingoz announced: “We are not leaving Somalia because of the terrorist attacks targeting Turkey.” Cingoz had talked to the volunteers in Somalia once again before the announcement. He reported they were grieved at the terrorists attacks but felt no concerns or fears as they knew the condition the country was in when they first arrived. He further stated that they will carry on with their services against all the odds.