Kırklareli from Turkey, which is on the border with Bulgaria is one of the first stopovers for people evacuated from Ukraine amid the ongoing war. A group of volunteers in the province opened up their hearts and meet the needs of the young evacuated.
Families who fled the conflict took refuge in student dormitories following the evacuation efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. the children among these families are helped with the help of volunteers from Kırklareli Youth Center. About 20 volunteers seek to boost morale of childrenmainly Crimean Tatars, while their country makes face to an uncertain situation future.
The dorms have a number of options to hire children from sports courts for game rooms and free internet for help they socialize and forget the circumstances in which they came to the country. The volunteers keep children busy with various activities despite language fence.
Irem Damla Uncu, who studying child development at Kırklareli University, is one of the volunteers. “I am proud and happy to be part of of this. I was worried about them but found spend time with their made both us and them happy,” she told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thusday.
Uncu taught the children new gameset they blew up balloons together. “They have adapted well to their new environment and do not hesitate to games”, she said. “There was a girl here, Meryem. I noticed that she liked my ring. I gave it to her, and she felt like she had to give me something too and so took off son bracelet and gave it to me. I burst into tears and barely held myself back so as not to make her cry too,” she recalled. “We don’t talk the same way. languagebut our body language glue us,” she says.
Ebubekir Bayat, another university student who volunteers for children said they would probably never see the children again but they did everything to cheer them up up and make them forget the war. “They are the most innocent victims of the war. It was very moving for us to meet them,” he said.
Children are usually quiet when they are not. playing. Yakub Bariev, a 7-year-old boy, says he’s warmed up up at son “new brothers and sisters” (the volunteers) who visited them but missed son father and uncle who had to stay behind in Ukraine during son trip to turkey with his mother.
“I was afraid of the sound of bombs in Ukraine but i feel so happy and peaceful in Turkey,” said Suleyman Kurtbedinov, another boy.
