2016-2017 ACTIVITY REPORT
TEXT
Nil Delahaye, Eleni Nadin Diker, Hamit Levent Evci, Burcu Ayan ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Eleni Nadin Diker, Dilek Üstünalan, Nil Delahaye EDITING
Kaya Türkmen DESIGN
Gözde Mimiko Türkkan IMAGES
Reconciliation Games:
Drawing - Ayşe Merve Kamacı
CRRC conference - CRRC Armenia
Sivil Düşün conference - Sivil Düşün AB Programı News in Kars - Serhat TV
News in Sivil Düşün - “Sınırın Çocukları BoMoVu’yla Barışa Oynuyor” Your Movement is Free:
All images were taken during Your Movement is Free program. Dilek Üstünalan’s image - Courtesy of Dilek Üstünalan herself Critical Sports:
Images belong to BoMoVu.
News in Uplifers - Feminist Fight Club and Kadından Kadına Muay Thai Symposium on GBV in Football - Cinsel Şiddetle Mücadele Derneği Drawings - Çağıl Kayan Widegren BoMoVu Workshops:
Muay Thai Workshop - Cansu Turan
Kochari Workshop - Kyle Khandikian
Ecological Running Workshop - Pera Müzesi, Pera Eğitim Body Awareness Workshop - Dilan Yoğun
Eco Tango Workshop - Poster from the film “Tango Negro, The African Roots of Tango” directed by Dom Pedro Other images belong to BoMoVu.
PREFACE It’s been over a year that our association BoMoVu has been founded as such. We started working as a volunteer network in 2013. Then we grew as we crossed people having concerns similar to ours. Not only in the sense of the work that we do, but also in our dreams and hopes... We develop programs that transform sports and body movement into social value; we struggle against discriminations taking place inside practices. We bring together a network composed of sports and body movement practitioners with vulnerable groups such as children, refugees, women, the disabled, in order to assist their social empowerment. In all our work, we think, organize and produce through a body movement and rights-based approach . Within the past year, we developed physical and creative activity programs to accompany the activities of community centers welcoming refugees in Istanbul with our Your Movement Is Free project in addition to our Reconciliation Games project through which we aim to ameliorate children’s cross-border perceptions by taking advantage of the space of freedom offered by games with a sport for reconciliation approach. Another program we have started to implement is Critical Sports! This program aims at questioning the order into which sports are being constructed and practiced, re-analyzing bodily practices that produce same hegemonies and power imbalances from a critical point of view, and advocating for the right to movement. This program is implemented under two projects: Woman to Women Muay Thai Trainings and Non-Discriminatory Swearing Workshop. As BoMoVu, we also try to reach out to people and groups with different needs through workshops. We organized workshops on: Woman to Women Muay Thai, Easy Puppet Making, Body Percussion, Kochari: In and Out of Context - Transcending Gender, Thinking About Self-Defense, Breathless - Ecological Running, Women to Women Body Awareness, and Eco Tango. For us, this year was about bringing as many people as possible together with our team to develop content and brainstorm about all these projects, the program and the workshops; we fed from and grew with the time we all put in, from the experiences of each other, as well as our perspectives on life that we put together. We share with you this activity report that tells about the content, the human relations, the teachings, but also our dreams and call for solidarity to provide information on all the work we have done since our official establishment. As BoMovu, we believe in the power of work based on physical movement and sports and that it entails a major struggle. Guided by our belief that a better life is possible, we carry on this struggle to increase its impact. We look forward to join forces with more individuals and organizations in order to provide further meaning to the lives of people. We welcome all those who share our hopes. With conviction, hope and in order to free the movement each and every passing day... BoMoVu
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. BOMOVU FROM ITS ESTABLISHMENT TO DATE 1.1. Our Mission 1.2. Our Vision 1.3. Our Team 1.4. Against Gender Based Violence together with Women Win 2. OUR WORK 2.1. Reconciliation Games 2.2. Your Movement is Free 2.3. Critical Sports 2.3.1. Woman to Women Muay Thai Trainings 2.3.2. Non-Discriminatory Swearing Workshop 2.4. BoMoVu Workshops 2.4.1. BoMoVu Workshop I: Woman to Women Muay Thai 2.4.2. BoMoVu Workshop II: Easy Puppet Making 2.4.3. BoMoVu Workshop III: Body Percussion 2.4.4. BoMoVu Workshop IV: Kochari: In and Out of Context - Transcending Gender 2.4.5. BoMoVu Workshop V: Thinking About Self-Defense 2.4.6. BoMoVu Workshop VI: Breathless - Ecological Running 2.4.7. BoMoVu Workshop VII: Women to Women Body Awareness Workshop 2.4.8. BoMoVu Workshop VIII: Eco Tango Workshop 3. OUR PARTNERSHIPS 3.1. Project on Empowering Children Under Risks 3.2. Teaching About Fundamental Rights and Democratic Values Through the Life and Story of Anne Frank
1. BOMOVU FROM ITS ESTABLISHMENT TO DATE Sports and Body Movement for Vulnerable Groups Association - BoMoVu was officially founded on 3 May 2016.
We had carried out smaller actions since 2013 with our knowledge of different sports and the will to share the pleasure we get from them, with the aim to create a physical solidarity. We decided to establish our association after we had taken our first steps on this movement based approach with unaccompanied migrant children, create solidarity with women in Armenia, and children from Istanbul’s Sulukule neighborhood to prevent school dropouts. Most of sports dictate certain physical requirements for the sake of competitiveness and perfectionism, leaving aside the happiness and well-being that sport is supposed to provide. BoMoVu is defending the right to equal opportunity in sports and challenging this normative approach that discriminates against persons on the basis of their physical characteristics. Because of social pressures, most of sports are designed especially for men and women have more difficult access to them. We want to break the prejudices surrounding women’s physical capacities. The perception of space shapes differently within people who were forced to migrate and we think it is necessary that they receive support in defining their mobility. Most of physically disabled people can move their body and we believe that normative approach to sports should not restrict their access; if a human has a body, it is her basic right to be able to decide how she wants to move it. Our duty is to provide access to their rights. Children in need of protection, refugee kids, children victim of displacement, unaccompanied migrant children also have the right to enjoy life and to develop the capacities of their young bodies. We want to show the way to young girls for using their body for their own pleasure instead of growing with the idea that their body is made to please the needs of others. All sports practitioners have experienced mental and physical improvements in their lives thanks to physical activity, and we want to share our specialized knowledge and skills to reach that end with vulnerable groups in Turkey.
1.1. Our Mission As BoMoVu, we believe that access to physical activities is a right and should not be considered as a luxury reserved for the affluent or physically able.
1.2. Our Vision To reach our goal, we design short and long-term physical training programs to help people integrate into a happy life.
1.3. Our Team FOUNDING MEMBERS Nil Lea Delahaye, Gözde Türkkan, Eleni Diker, Hamit Levent Evci, Pınar Özer, Ayşe Merve Kamacı, Fatih Gençkal. BoMoVu’s Boards as for 11th of November 2017: DIRECTION BOARD President Nil Lea Delahaye Vice-president Eleni Diker General Secretary Gözde Türkkan Treasurer Hamit Levent Evci Member Ferhat Kılıç Auxiliary Nazlı Durak, Saadet Başak Ülgen, Sanem Su Avcı, Ferdi Kibar, Ayşe Merve Kamacı AUDITORS’ BOARD Ceren Doğan Aslı Dürüst Furat Buzğan Auxiliary: Talin Diker, Fikret Levent Şensever, Akgün İlhan WORKERS Burcu Ayan Hayk Hakobyan
BOMOVU NETWORK Without BoMoVu’s volunteers network, none of the works cited in this activity report could have take place. Hüseyin Korkma Dilek Üstünalan Enzo Ikah Zeynep Köprülü Oğuz Mescioğlu Kadir Özdemir Perim Zengin Gizem Balcı Oya Delahaye Anıl Berkay Vardıoğlu Lider Hepgenç Renk Koç Baran Ucal Damla Sezikli Hasan Kızıllar Dilan Yoğun Sena Çakır Buket Atlı Başak Gürer Göker Yıldız … and we thank all our friends who support us.
1.4. Against Gender Based Violence together with Women Win The international organization Women Win, who’s mission is to equip adolescent girls to exercise their rights through sport, is providing us with consultancy since before BoMoVu’s founding, and organizational and moral support since our establishment as an association. We are grateful to Women Win thanks to which our conviction about the need to struggle for the right to physical integrity of the oppressed has proven right and our self-confidence reinforced. While our work is based upon our observation of the consequences of discriminations, obedience and subjugation, gender based violence stays at the heart of our sensitivity.
2. OUR WORK 2.1. Reconciliation Games Scope Reconciliation Games is a body movement based game program developed for children by BoMoVu team. By adopting the sports for peace approach, we shared the dialogue power of body movement by means of traditional children games with children living in the border cities of Turkey. We implemented the program first in the provinces of Kars and Ardahan located in Southern Caucasus and second, in the Eastern Thrace province of Edirne. Objective The primary aim of the program is to improve children’s cross-border perceptions and reminding them of the past and present cultural diversity in their cities by means of the space of freedom offered by games. We used as our tool the traditional children games that form an important part of our cultural heritage. By bringing into the forefront the values embodied in sports and attributing them to the games we play, we tried to devote a socially inclusive and peaceful attitude to the ways in which children relate to their environments.
Location and Period of Implementation First period in Kars and Ardahan, May 2016 and second period in Edirne, June 2017. Partners This program is developed and implemented by BoMoVu. We were supported by KAMER Foundation, Ardahan Kent Konseyi and AZ81 Sports Club during the implementation of the first two periods of the program. Number of People Reached We reached 185 children with an approximately 50:50 gender balance.
May 2016, Kars
June 2017, Edirne
Dissemination We prepared a manual for Reconciliation Games in order to make everyone benefit from this program. 200 prints were distributed to various non-governmental organizations and interested individuals. To access the electronic version (in Turkish only) of the manual: http://
bomovu.org/kafkasyada-barisa-oyna-reconciliation-games-in-the-caucasus/
Events We had the opportunity to introduce the Reconciliation Games program at the 14th Best Practices in Education Conference held on May 13, 2017 by the Education Reform Initiative (ERG)
13 May 2017, SabancÄą University, Istanbul
We were invited to present the work we have commissioned for Armenia-Turkey: Paving the Way for Dialogue and Reconciliation conference in Yerevan on May 19, 2017.
19 May 2017, Yerevan State University, Armenia
On July 4th and 5th, 2017 we attended the Civil Society Forum in Ankara organized by the EU program of Sivil Düşün with the participation of the EU Turkey Delegation and activists from Turkey and Europe. We presented our Reconciliation Games program which is funded by Sivil Düşün for two consecutive periods and during our stay, we had the opportunity to implement the program with children from Altındağ Municipality. http://bomovu.org/barisa-oyna-sivil-toplumforumundaydi/
Media Our activities in the province of Kars were covered by local media.
http://www.serhattv.com.tr/karsta-cocuklara-yonelik-oyun-atolyeleri-257425h.html
http://sivildusun.net/sinirin-cocuklari-bomovuyla-barisa-oynuyor/
I. and II. Period Program Coordinators Eleni Nadin Diker and Nil Delahaye II. Period Program Coordinators Hamit Levent Evci, Eleni Nadin Diker and Nil Delahaye Program Budget Phase I: 11.000 TL Phase II: 13.450 TL Phase III: 36.825 TL Supporting Organizations
For more detail http://bomovu.org/barisa-oyna-reconciliation-games/
2.2. Your Movement is Free
Scope Your Movement is Free is a tool developed by BoMoVu association to reach out to community centers welcoming refugees in Istanbul. With a network of sports and performing arts practitioners, refugee children and adults benefiting from services of community centers in Istanbul are offered a physical activities program to accompany their educational and psycho-social support. Objective The base of Your Movement is Free is the right to physical integrity. The right to physical integrity is a constitutional right. It protects the inviolability of human body. The right to physical integrity is a principle that provides the basis for other rights and freedoms. One’s right to life and to the respect of one’s body is enabled through the protection of the right to physical integrity. In the case of migration from a war-torn land, freedom of movement is a bodily right highly challenged both by international policies and physical violence inflicted by conflicts. This project’s aim is to help safeguard displaced refugees’ physical integrity and understanding of freedom of movement through the practice of physical activities in the hosting environment.
Dilek Üstünalan, one of our volunteers defined as follows how the contact improvisation classes she is carrying on with young refugee women, made one feel: “It gives strength to your presence where you are; and a potential to make yourself present there, to make people sense you, to sense the connections around.” Dilek mentioned that she participated in Your Movement is Free Project with the will to share what contact improvisation gave her, to get excited with the newly established connections and to transform these sharings into social gain. Location and Period of Implementation Istanbul, January - June 2017 and Istanbul, October 2017 - May 2018 Partners Our partners whom we work together within the scope of this project are Ad.dar Community Center, Yusra Community Center and Tarlabaşı Community Center. Our volunteers carry out their activities in these community centers. Number of People Reached Within the first period of the project, 297 people (adults, young adults and children; women and men) were reached. We continue to reach more people in the second part of the project.
“As a volunteer of Your Movement Is Free, Enzo Ikah, provides the beneficiaries of Ad.dar with guitar classes. He has been, just like the people he teaches guitar to, also experiencing being a refugee in Turkey for many years. According to him, togetherness is a circle. He explains how his grand-mother taught him that “Your life can be good. But if you don’t share what you possess, then all your richness is worth nothing.” Hence, Enzo shares with others what he owns.”
Dissemination SheFighter Workshops and Introductory Meeting (17-18 December 2016, İstanbul): First introductory meeting of Your Movement is Free Project was held in Ad.dar Community Center. The same day Lina Khalifeh, the founder of SheFighter, the first self-defense studio for women in the Middle East, held a self-defense workshop for the beneficiary women in Ad.dar as a part of this event. On Sunday, 18th of December, a free self-defense workshop was held for women in CrossFit Balaban with media support by Uplifers. Through these 3 consecutive events, 30 people were reached. To reach the article about this event on Uplifers.com: https://www.uplifers.com/bomovu-hareketin-ozgur-projesi-shefighter-lina-khalifeh-
istanbulda/
Capoeira Workshops for social cohesion (18-20 April, 26-28 April 2017, Urfa): With the aim of supporting the social cohesion efforts between Turkish and Syrian children living in Urfa, 4 “Social Cohesion with Capoeira” workshops were realized via Concern Worldwide Association’s representative agency in Turkey and 104 children were reached. Workshops were carried out by Nil Delahaye with the assistance of Your Movement is Free volunteers Hüseyin Korkma and Anıl Berkay Vardıoğlu. For more information: http://bomovu. org/sosyal-uyum-icin-capoeira-social-cohesion-with-capoeira/
Capacity Development Program for Educators (ECD) (27-29 July 2017, Urfa): Your Movement is Free volunteers Hüseyin Korkma, Renk Koçtürk and Lider Hepgenç were in Urfa to get together with the educators of Concern Worldwide Turkey. “Capacity Development Program for Educators” (ECD) was a program organised by BoMoVu, which aims to help the educators working with displaced children, gain basic skills to use body movement and physical activities in their teaching practice. These workshops were shared with 60 educators. For more information: http://bomovu.org/hareketin-ozgur-ekibi-urfadaydi/
Contact Improvisation Workshops with Women (7-9 September 2017, Hatay): A three-day Contact Improvisation Workshop with Syrian young women was carried out by Your Movement is Free volunteer Dilek Üstünalan with the assistantship of Nil Delahaye in Yuva Association’s Community Center in Hatay, Kırıkhan. It was focused on issues such as solidarity between women, supporting each other, finding the balance together with 9 women who continued until the end, out of 18 who participated in the first day of the workshop. For more information: https://ci-turkey.org/2017/10/07/kirikhanda-suriyeli-gocmen-genc-kadinlarla-kontak-dogaclama-atolyesi/
Arabic Pilates Booklet: The booklet, prepared in English and Arabic for immigrant women who have a physically idle lifestyle and complain about their health, was presented to a group of 10 people, with an illustrated lecture of basic pilates movements which could be learned and practiced at home easily. Later on, it was shared with other institutions working in the field of migration. For the booklet on BoMoVu website: http://bomovu.org/yayinlar-publications/pilates-in-arabic/
Program Coordinators Burcu Ayan and Nil Delahaye Program Budget 1. Period: 31.000 TL 2. Period: 126.000 TL Supporting organization
For more detail http://bomovu.org/hareketin-ozgur-your-movement-is-free/
2.3. Critical Sports
With the “Critical Sports� program, we defend the right to movement by promoting a point of view that questions the settings in which sports are created and performed, and criticizes the power relations and imbalances that are reproduced in sports. The activities we realized within this scope are as follows:
2.3.1 Woman to Women Muay Thai Training
Scope This program was established upon the call of a feminist group to BoMoVu. Feminist Fight Club wrote to us saying: “We want to do sports, and we want to box as it could be fun and empowering. We want to train regularly to keep our bodies and minds fit and to learn some techniques of self-defense in the meantime, but when it comes to such a combat sport, it is difficult to find a sports club both economically accessible and free of racist or sexist behaviour.” This is how we made our first step in this program, named Critical Sports, with a sports approach that questions sexist mechanisms. Objective - Discussing the issue of gender-based violence in terms of sports and especially combat sports, raising public awareness about this issue. - Creating a safe space for women and transgender people for boxing training. - Offering Muay Thai classes with a feminist sensitivity. - Creating an economically reachable space for transgender people, refugees and other vulnerable groups such as women who are exposed to discrimination. Empowering the women and transgender people physically and socially through an anti-sexist approach to sports. In line with these objectives, we aim to improve the boxing trainings with the women group and measure the outputs of the anti-sexist approach in sports through offering bimonthly surveys to the participants of the training. Location and Period of Implementation İstanbul, April 2017 - April 2018 Partners Feminist Fight Club Number of People Reached Up until December, 142 women registered to the Woman to Women Muay Thai Classes and 96 women attended the classes at least once. 14 women in average attend the trainings every week and up to now 30 trainings have been carried out.
Dissemination Gözde, who carries out the Muay Thai trainings, wrote her opinions about the trainings to Uplifers. The article, which has been shared 247 times on social media, can be reached here: https://www.uplifers.com/feminist-fight-club-kadindan-kadina-muay-thai/ What is Muay Thai? Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) is a combat sport which was developed through the modernization of the ancient combat art dating back to Siam Kingdom by blending it with the West’s boxing rules since 1920. It is also known as the “Art/Science of 8 Limbs” because of the use of fists, elbows, knees and kicks. Particularly in Thailand, due to the high commitment it requires, it is seen as a respectable way of life, and it is as well a way of earning life for the kids of poor families. It is not only a ring sport based on contests, but also a very fun and salutary combat sport, which is quite effective as physical activity and exercise. Thus, it is used as a technique to contribute to self-defense and personal development in many parts of the world.
We continue our communication and our sharings about non-sexist sports and sports fields through the facebook group which has 243 members. Program Coordinators Gözde Türkkan, Aslı Dürüst and Nil Delahaye Program Budget 10.830 TL Supporting Organization
For detailed information http://bomovu.org/programlar-programs/elestirel-spor-critical-sports/kadindan-kadinamuay-thai-antremanlari/
2.3.1 Non Discriminatory Swearing Workshop
Scope As BoMoVu, we believe that all the lively energy and general excitement reflected by football fans gives us an important hint about the power of sports. With the Non Discriminatory Swearing Workshops, we look for ways to develop an alternative and sensitive language to today’s discriminatory/othering speech that we hear in the stadiums. While exploiting such awareness, we invite everyone to think, speak, create alternatives about the language with the aim to both render football a more inclusive space and to create a space of solidarity for the struggle of the victimized groups to take their rightful place in the football. Objective The racist and sexist language prevailing in stadiums have become common place. As an association created with the love of sports, and fighting all types of discriminations, we stand beside the people aimed at by this language while respecting the spirit of football fanaticism in a search for a middle way to find a field of action. The aim of this workshop is not to “civilize the language” of football fans neither to claim authority in a space where there are existing rules and systems. What we intend is to create alternatives inside the existing reality in order to diversify the defense tools of the victimized ones. For this reason, this workshop can make a difference with the contribution of football fans.
Location and Period of Implementation: - 14-16 July 2016, European Supporters Union Conference, Izmir - May 2017, Koç University’s members of EKUAL Club for Human Rights, Istanbul - 13-14 May 2017, Kadir Has University Symposium on Sexual Violence and Gender Discrimination in Football, Istanbul
Number of People Reached 66 people were reached via the workshops. Program Coordinators Nil Delahaye and Eleni Nadin Diker Program Budget Travel and accommodation to Izmir was arranged by the European Supporters Union Conference’s budget. Apart from this, no money was spent on the program. For more detail http://bomovu.org/magdursuz-kufur-atolyesi-non-discriminatory-swearing-workshop/
2.4. BoMoVu Workshops
Scope BoMoVu creates a platform with all the people involved in movement and sports who want to express a new understanding. We only have the possibility to understand all the practices and cultures of movement as much as they are at our disposal through the way they are proposed to us and as far as our prejudices allow us. But non-patriarchal boxing, football, rugby trainings; a fitness club sloughed off of themes such as “health” or “beauty”; a machine equipped gym that does not promote chemical energy powders; a running team that does not make group selfies; a capoeira environment that does not practice the sports of a far away country with nationalistic romanticism; a ballet teacher who does not teach how to “be a girl”; a theatre approach that does not categorically refuse even the usage of a the hegemonic language with the accents of a mother tongue; an ecological, rights-based, open and reachable sports culture is possible. Objective With these workshops, BoMoVu leaves ajar the door of the possibilities of movement. Sharing the movement, being aware of the diversity of the points of view, looking at sports and movements from the perspective of freedom, are the objectives of those workshops. Means and Period of Implementation With the exception of a few workshops reserved to women, all the workshops are open and free of charge. As those workshops that we organize once a month if possible are in essence provided by people we come across by chance, go to meet, become friends with, they are open to new contributions. Partners Most of the workshops were organized in partnership with Dancentrum center by using their space. In addition, we have held workshops in the Queer Olympix program with Atletik Dildoa team, at Pera Museum’s Pera Education and at the Danshane space of Arada Association. Number of People Reached 129 people were reached of whom 91 women. Program Coordinator Nil Delahaye
2.4.1. BoMoVu Workshop I: Woman to Women Muay Thai “After completing her BA in Photography and MA in Fine Arts, Gözde Mimiko Türkkan has been producing and exhibiting art projects about gender identities and roles, all the while dedicating her last 10 years to kick-boxing and thai-boxing known as Muay Thai. Since the acquirement of a trainer’s license in Muay Thai, she has been pursuing her 2 professions. Muay Thai, whose origins can be traced back to the Siam Kingdom’s martial art practices, is the national sport of Thailand which makes use of elbows, knees, fists and shins and it is therefore considered one of most brutal combat sports nowadays. Muay Thai also serves as a means to make a living and support the parents for boys and girls starting from a very young age.” Workshop Facilitator Gözde Mimiko Türkkan Date 6 February 2017
2.4.2. BoMoVu Workshop II: Easy Puppet Making “Would you like to learn or share your knowledge about the art of puppets? We will teach the fabrication of 4 basic puppets during this two-hour workshop. The door of this workshop prepared by our volunteering educator Lider is open to all who want to learn and share new skills.” Workshop Facilitator Lider Hepgenç Date 21 March 2017
2.4.3. BoMoVu Workshop III: Body Percussion
“African enslaved people in the US developed a means of communication through percussions and this is why the slavery system forbade them the use of any music instrument. Hence, the slaves had developed a way to circumvent this prohibition using their own bodies as instruments. This technique uses beats on the chess, hips and legs combined with hand claps and feet slaps. Today, rhythm has become a part of our daily lives; our body is the first instrument we own. Steps, claps, flicks, sounds coming from hitting our chess and our knees… These are the parts of our instrument. Body percussion is the experience of how far the abilities of our body can go and how we, as bodies, can stand by each other. It is a method that helps us think again of the existence of our body and develops the coordination of our body members. Come and let’s discover together body percussion, let’s think about what our bodies can create and let’s create harmony and music from this togetherness. The aim of this workshop is to experience body percussion as a way of solidarity. Body percussion is a method that can be used when we work with vulnerable groups and a possibility to exist and generate inside the moment and the space.” Workshop Facilitator Hüseyin Korkma Date 25 May 2017
2.4.4. BoMoVu Workshop IV: Kochari: In and Out of Context, Transcending Gender “Join us as we attempt to queer our folk culture! We will be learning shared folk dances and songs, and along the way, queering them, playing with gender and cultural norms to create a folk culture that reflects us, our bodies, and our desires. One such dance, kochari, is a folk dance with many roots, thanks to contributions from Armenians, Greeks, Kurds, Azeris, and Turks. This fluid and pluralistic dance cannot fit easily within any one national box or identity. We believe that dance can be a form of physical communication between cultures. We also believe that it can be a way for role trans-gender communication. We will experience this with our own bodies in this workshop. This gathering is the pilot workshop of Queer Village, a space for LGBTIQ-identified activists and artists from Armenia and Turkey to meet each other, and together queer the TurkeyArmenia dialogue and peace process through art.” Workshop Facilitator Kyle Khandikian Date 22 June 2017
2.4.5. BoMoVu Workshop V: Thinking about Self-Defense We made a workshop springing from Woman to Women Muay Thai experience together with the Feminist Fight Club Initiative at the QUEER OLYMPIX organized by Atletik Dildoa team. “Woman to Women Muay Thai Trainings is a project running since 5 months with the support of Open Society Foundation; findings of surveys made every other month with the women were discussed with activists as basis of problematics during the workshop.” Workshop Facilitators Pelin Çakır, Özge Burak, Nazlı Mayuk and Nil Delahaye Date 26 August 2017
2.4.6. BoMoVu Workshop VI: Out of Breath - Ecological Running
“We run in the cities; because we want to be healthy, because we need it, because it helps us solve our problems, because it makes us feel free… While we run, we regulate our breathing, we challenge ourselves and build a resistance to the pain from our muscles, and we gain power from our environment. As we prefer running on the soil for a better knee comfort, we also try to keep away from the cars so our lungs go open up. But how much do we have access to these in the cities? Can we measure the impact of air pollution on our lungs opening while running in the cities? We get thirsty when we run but can we find drinkable water in parks? How does our shopping routine influences ecological running? This workshop organized for group and individual runners will first focus on considering the problems of sports and ecology from the perspective of running, and then on finding solutions.” Workshop Facilitators Buket Atlı and Nil Delahaye Date 9 September 2017
2.4.7. BoMoVu Workshop VII: Women to Woman Body Awareness Body Awareness with dancer Dilan Yoğun: “We wait for you at this workshop where we will invite you to join hands and unite our souls, we will uphold our power with our awareness, feel our inner voice, gain control on the outside world with body awareness.”
Workshop Facilitator Dilan Yoğun Date 27 October 2017
2.4.8. BoMoVu Workshop VIII: Eco Tango Workshop “Eco Tango is a term we invented; because we are queers, non-normatives, originals, funlovers, uglies, ones who didn’t have access to Western education, we are pushed away from a certain hegemonic form of doing Tango. However, with a closer look, we discover that Tango is the dance of the Africans, that it was created by slaves in Argentina, that after being massively exterminated during the Parana war, those people’s existence was denied by the official history even until their cultural heritage. We are not Africans but we too, like the hegemonic who ventures a certain interpretation, we are “others” who dance Tango. We wait for all people who have a real passion for Tango and all who did not even dare to try it just because of all those barriers.”
Workshop Facilitator Serkan Bozkurt Date 24 November 2017
3. PARTNERSHIPS 3.1. Project on Empowering Children Living Under Risks The Project on Empowering Children Living Under Risks started in April 2016 and will continue during one year with the financial support of EMpower Foundation under the coordination of Sulukule Gönüllüleri Derneği (Association of Volunteers of Sulukule) and with the support of BoMoVu. The project aims at strengthening children’s relations with the school in order to support the prevention of school dropouts and sustain children’s personal development in areas of healthy living, self esteem, fundamental human rights, effective communication, and solidarity. In order to attain those goals, activities about living together, self defense, physical integrity, non-violent communication, discrimination, gender are undertaken using rights-based sports and physical movement. The activities take place at Hattat Rakım Middle-School’s gymnasium where children coming to the association go to school. As BoMoVu, we develop content of activity programs and aim at developing capacities of the project’s volunteers. Project Owner Sulukule Gönüllüleri Derneği Coordination Hamit Levent Evci Date April 2017 - April 2018
3.2. Teaching About Fundamental Rights and Democratic Values Through the Life and Story of Anne Frank The action ‘Teaching about fundamental rights and democratic values through the life and story of Anne Frank’ seeks to raise awareness and encourage discussion about the recent history in Turkey. By promoting critical thinking about historical events and their relevance for contemporary challenges, SEHAK and its local and international partners seek to generate dialogue about the common past, thus fostering better understanding and democratic principles in Turkey. By using interdisciplinary, pluralistic, and critical pedagogy-based history education, the SEÇBİR and Anne Frank House’s methodological approach combines formal and non-formal education tools and empowers both teachers and students to become the agents of a changed discourse on history, commemoration, remembrance and dialogue about the past. At the core of the action is the SEHAK, SEÇBİR and Anne Frank House’s focus on creating long-lasting, high quality, interactive educational materials that draw on proven-successful pedagogical methods and that engage and inspire generations of both teachers and students. Partners Anne Frank House (Amsterdam, the Netherlands); The International Association for Intercultural Education (IAIE); the Center for Sociology and Education Studies (SEÇBİR) at the Istanbul Bilgi University; Network of Sport and Body Movement (BoMoVu); Association for Independent Research, Information and Communication (Babil); Avlaremoz Platform. Date 2017 - 2019
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