turkey, the land of hospitality

I believe a lot of you have heard about Turkey. I just don’t know if you can see it as I do. That is why now I will try to show it to you from my point of view. Just grab your favorite drink, and enjoy mine and my friends’ story about this beautiful piece of land.

Whenever I hear about Turkey, I feel like someone is talking about another place called ‘’home’’. That is the reason why I decided to spend two months volunteering there. I do not regret a thing about it. We started our project at the beginning of September. The weather was so hot, but it didn’t stop us from giving our best when it comes to helping the environment but also enjoying our stay there. We were a group of 15 volunteers coming from different European countries, 4 of them were Macedonians (me, Elena, Stefan, and Mustaf). All I can say is that being a country-mixed group, only made us connect and even enjoy more.

Since our project was about the environment, a topic that really rings bells in my head, it made me even more motivated when it comes to contributing and giving my personal best. We had a lot of cleaning activities, raising awareness tasks, writing projects, having a lot of debates, conversation clubs, and webinars, to make sure the locals were also involved in these important topics. I can not say that Turkey is the ‘’best’’ country when it comes to a clean environment, but if everyone takes even the smallest action, we are one step closer to making the world a better place. As time was passing by, we were also included in a little bit different types of activities: helping the refugees. What exactly were we doing? We were collecting and dividing clothes, according to their size, age, and gender. I am happy to say, that I witnessed an action of so many people helping and being part of this activity.

Now I would like to say something more about what I mentioned in the beginning, the hospitality of the Turkish people. Not only that they were so kind when you visit a store, a market or a restaurant, but they will for sure offer you a free cup of Turkish tea. Isn’t that amazing? Even if you don’t have enough money to pay for some thing - it’s not a big problem for them. You just enjoy what you had and continue with your day. I wish people were this generous everywhere I go.

In the end, all I can say is that Turkey and this volunteering project made me a better person. I would love it if everyone had a chance to do even the smallest positive change somewhere in the world.

Elena Glogovac