Focus on Faros Tou Kosmou Thessaloniki
Here is My Africa! Faros Tou Kosmou: a place where dreams come true by İlknur Çiftçi
Sometimes we wish we had a magic hand to is my interview with the founder Father Ath-
improve our living conditions. For the children enagoras Loukataris (called Father by the peoof Dendropotamos, there is an organization ple because he is a priest). Faros volunteer Elethat has set out to make this wish come true. ni Tranou provided translation support. This is Faros Tou Kosmou.
İ.Ç - Can you tell me about the I’m İlknur Çiftçi, from Türkiye. I am a long-term history of Faros Tou Kosmou? What volunteer at Faros Tou Kosmou. I participate in was your main motivation when you the daily activities of Kdap, supporting children started this adventure? with education, sports and creative activities. Located in the ghetto neighborhood of Dendropotamos, this organization works for the Roma community, which faces discrimination based on ethnicity. It works to break down prejudices against the community, fight discrimination (including gender discrimination) and substance abuse. Coming from a different country to hear the voices of this community and support them as they struggle to cope with social challenges is welcomed with great gratitude and love by the community, which makes the 7-month volunteering experience even more valuable.
A lso, the fact that I learn so much from the
children every day has a positive effect on my motivation. Faros Tou Kosmou is an organization that set out to change the fate of the people of Dendropotamos. In order to learn firsthand about its history and achievements, here
Actually, this was my childhood dream. When I
grew up, after completing my education, I wanted to be a missionary in Africa. After university, when I completed my military service, I realized that it was time to go there and fulfill my childhood dream. Those who knew about my dream said, you don’t have to go anywhere. There is an Africa here and you have to be part of it and help them in Dendropotamos. Because in Dendropotamos the children do not go to school and they do not have their vaccines so somebody should take care of all of these. So I found my Africa here instead of the main Africa. At that time, the citizens of this city said ‘What is important for solving the problems of these ghettos is for children to go to school’. So these have to be the main purpose because that was the truth. Through education, children were able to change the history of these com-
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