What will you get from this experience? Get excited!!!!

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1 Give A Kalyoncu Give University-Gaziantep/Turkey A Hand Hasan Kalyoncu University-Gaziantep, Turkey What will you get from this experience? Get excited!!!! Volunteering in the refugee camp Short summer courses at a prestigious Turkish University Cultural experience of a historically and religiously diverse country Making friends with people from the other side of the world Helping those less fortunate and connecting with global issues

2 Project Give A Hand is a volunteer program, which embraces children, peace, and education. This year participants are also going to earn a chance to take classes covering politics, Middle East, and peace at Hasan Kalyoncu University along with extensive volunteering at the Syrian Refugee Camp. This is a student found program that is created to give high school students the opportunity to connect with and raise awareness on major global issues. This volunteer project is aiming to have 10 students from The Hill School and 10 Turkish students. All of these students are going to work in order to help the Syrian children living at the refugee camp at Gaziantep, Nizip. In addition, we are aiming to collect donations before the start of the program to address the needs of the children at the camp. Currently the most basic needs of the children are hygiene items, diapers, and baby food. Nizip Regugee Camp, there are 857 children living between the ages We are going to volunteer at the camp for 5 hours every day during a two-week period in order to help these children with art, music, sports etc. The rest of the time is going to be spent touring nearby attractions and taking lectures at the Hasan Kalyoncu Univeristy. Why? Syria is Turkey s southeastern neighbor. On March 2011, a civil war started in Syria and it only got worse. Unfortunately Syria wasn t able to find a solution and this civil war continues today. As the death rate reached 200,000, United Nation defined this crisis as the worst refugee crisis that has ever happened. The citizens, who ran away from their country, found sanctuary in neighboring countries. Turkey opened its doors to Syrians running away from the war. As of this date there are approximately 2 million refugees in Turkey. They are living at 23 camps. According to a report made by UNHC, Turkey is the country with the most Syrian refugees. These refugees are made up of 50% children, and 35% women. This is why during the summer of 2015 Give A Hand is going to work for peace and to help children. We are going to bring help to children at these camps, and also spend time with them. Our main goal is to raise awareness. We are going to make these children feel that they are not alone by playing with them, sharing with them and teaching them. As of June 2014, Syrian refugees reached a number of 3 million. They make up 23% of all refugees being helped by the UNHCR worldwide. ( 2

3 Where? Gaziantep-Turkey Dorms and lectures concerning Middle East politics are going to be held at the Hasan Kalyoncu University. ( Lectures concerning Middle East and politics are going to be prepared by Hasan Kalyoncu University Middle East Research Center. They are going to be given by political science faculty teacher Assc. Professor Bilal Çıplak. We are going to work at the Nizip Refugee Camp, 30 minutes away from the university. During the weekends and free hours, we are going to see the tourist and historical attractions at the cities of Gaziantep-Adıyaman and Urfa. These include; o Hiking Mount Nemrut and watching the World s most beautiful sunrise ( emrut) o Zeugma Mosaic Museum ( Mosaic_Museum) o Urfa ( anl%c4%b1urfa) o Göbeklitepe-The oldest Temple of the world o Halfeti- The Flooded City ( o And more 3

4 Why did I start this project? Rawdanur Cuma Rawdanur is a 19-year-old Syrian girl. She was the daughter of a wealthy family who wanted to be a doctor and had great academic achievements. Rawdanur and her family ran away from war and they are now living at a refugee camp. But she didn t give up on life. She gave up on her dream to be a doctor and right now is studying international communication at Hasan Kalyoncu University in order to help her country. 4 I grew up thankful and appreciative for the opportunities presented to me. In this world, most people are not as lucky as I am. Most people do not have any education opportunities. Because of the civil war that is going on in our neighbor Syria, every day people are forced to leave their homes behind. This war is getting worse every day. Out of all these refugees Turkey opened its doors to 2 million people. Approximately half of these people are small children. For the past four years I have been growing up with different news about these people every day. I have seen these children in really bad conditions on the streets of Istanbul. That is why I visited the camps that they live in last summer. Turkey is trying to help these refugees as much as possible but there should be more help. The whole world must work together in order to end this war and give these people a chance again. There should be more people giving a hand to these children. I decided to do everything in my power to help these children and took my first step during this spring break. I met with Rawdanur Cuma, whom I met last year and promised to help her in Gaziantep. I talked to her about my Give A Hand project. Rawdanur wanted to be a part of this project and she can t wait to see us on June. I also presented my project to the rector of the Hasan Kalyoncu University Prof. Tamer Yılmaz. The University was really interested in what I was doing. When I make up a group of 10, they are going to create a program and lectures for us to understand the politics in Middle East. In addition I went to the The Prime Ministry Disaster & Emergency Management Authority ( ) located in Gaziantep. I visited the president of the ministry Sinan Atakan. He told me that I had to get permission from the government in order to volunteer at the camps. He also reassured me saying that he would help me do this. I recently sent the letters to the authorities for the permission. The university greatly helped me on this subject. I am so excited for this project. With this project students, who attend this project and I are going to raise awareness on this subject and get a chance to help these children with the best of our abilities. Hulya Kosematoglu Hill 17

5 How? Students who attend this program are not going to be charged a fee. The only cost for students is the cost of airline tickets. The University will sponsor 10 Hill students education and accommodation fees. Students are going to be using the University s dormitories. After deciding who is going to join this program, permission forms, insurances, and flight ticket forms, and other information will be collected from students and their families. website is going to open soon. For now, this site is going to be a tool for donations. With this money we are going to buy diapers, hygiene items and baby food. When the participating students are identified, there will be a meeting to decide what we are going to do, and how we are going to contribute at the camps. We also will assign tasks. Everyone who attends the camp will write about their experience on the blog that is connected to in order to raise awareness. There are going to be programs involving all the tourist and historical places around the area. My family has a communication and organization firm. Starting from the landing at the airport to dropping the students back at the airport, the company will take responsibility for all of the students. Contact Person: Seba Kosematoglu seba@iyiiletisim.com During all the activities including, lectures, travelling, and social programs there are going to be teachers from the University supervising the students. There will be one advisor for every five students. Further information is going to be provided to the parents concerning the background and contact information of these teachers. Security In addition, to the high levels of security at the Refugee Camp, Hasan Kalyoncu University is going to be providing the attending students with additional security officers. The Ministry of Gaziantep is also informed about this project so they will be taking the necessary precautions concerning our security even before our arrival. Gaziantep is one of the most developed cities in the area. The Syria Refugee Camp in Nizip is the safest camp in Turkey. The distance between the camp and the boarder is 750 kilometers. Camp is basically located inside the city, which is unique compared to most refugee camps. 5

6 When? Pilot Program is going to be held between 1-15 th of June The program aims to continue through out future years. The Draft Program Ø June 1: Arrival at Gaziantep, orientation, getting to know the surrounding area. Ø June Breakfast Lecture Lunch Volunteering with the children at the camp Going back to campus Dinner and social program afterwards Ø June 6-7: Tour of Mount Nemrut Ø June Breakfast Volunteering with the children at the camp Lunch with the children at the camp Tour of Gaziantep, dinner, social programs Ø June 12 Goodbye lunch at the camp Goodbye visit and thank you to the University teachers Ø June Urfa Tour Ø June 15 Departure ** According to the plane times, the departure time can be revised. ** After getting a number for volunteers, there is going to be a new, detailed program created. 6