We support Syrian orphans in Hatay

5 Aralık 2016

De vereniging Hasene steunt op reguliere basis duizenden weeskinderen over heel de wereld. Hiervan bevinden zich 280 weeskinderen in Turkije en zijn het Syrische weeskinderen. De Syrische oorlog houdt ondertussen al 6 jaar aan maar de pijn is nog niet opgehouden, de oorlog is niet voorbij. We vernemen nog dagelijks het overlijden van onschuldige mensen. Turkije huisvest 3 miljoen Syrische vluchtelingen. Onder deze vluchtelingen bevinden zich heel wat weeskinderen.

Hasene continues supporting thousands of orphans around the world. About 280 of them are Syrian orphans who are now living in Turkey. Almost six years passed since the beginning of the Syrian war yet the suffering and misery of the Syrian have not ceased. We are receiving the news of death of innocent people day by day. Turkey has currently been a host to about three million Syrian refugees, among whom are a great number of orphans.

Their names are Ibrahim, Faruq, Fatma, Muhammed, Sena, Isra and so on. But what they have in common is being an orphan. We came together with the orphans from Hatay’s Reyhanli, Yayladagi and Kirikhan districts, for whom we provide support on a regular basis and delivered the funds raised for them. Photographs of the orphans were taken for the orphan files which are to be sent to their sponsors.

Hasene Turkey Branch Vice President Omer Soyleyenoglu, who oversees the orphan project said:

“We came together with our orphans and their relatives. One can easily tell they are orphans just by looking at their faces. Their conditions are far from well. Sadness is all over them. Even in their smiles there is an echo of sadness, sorrow and fear. We are doing our best to make them happy; we embrace them, caress them on the head, after which they smile. Yet, their smiles fail to hide the sorrow and disappointment they feel. The youngest orphan here is 3,5 months old.”

He watched us in the Northern Cyprus, recognized us in Kirikhan

During another meeting with orphans in Kirikhan district, Soyleyenoglu narrated an interesting anecdote: “Once again we were in Kirikhan to deliver the donations to our orphans. We finished our meeting and prepared to leave and a boy came to us. He said, ‘I know you, you are from Hasene’. I was quite taken aback and thought ‘How could this boy know us?’ The boy said that he lived in Northern Cyprus but he was there in his hometown Kirikhan for family vacation. He also said that the approached to us to meet. I asked him how he knew us. When he said, ‘I know you from a cartoon that showed your aid trucks. That was the recent cartoon. I had watched other cartoons before that,’ I was much pleased thinking that we had made remarkable impressions in such a young heart.”

Yusuf Yilmaz, Hasene Volunteering  photographer said:

“You are all watching war-stricken, innocent mothers, fathers and children on the TV, but being with them here is something totally different. Only after making a physical contact with them, you get to understand the gravity of the situation. You force yourself to smile; children have either forgotten how to smile or they just cannot bring themselves to smile. This is what I observed while shooting their pictures. They do not look like how other children would normally look at their ages, even in the pictures. That was a sad but thought-provoking instance regarding the after-effects of the war on the children.

Yet, in other respects, fortunately they have their sponsors, who care for them and protect. They already know that there are thousands who do not have such support. Despite everything, one feels thankful that there are people who look out for them. What matters is conducting such relief and aid activities without embarrassing them. We are only a means. Our donators donate and we deliver. Since the mothers and relatives of the orphans are aware that we are only a means, they did not feel ashamed or bad while receiving donations.