I write to you today from my house in New Hampshire. After three weeks in Biga, I feel energized and hopeful about the construction of the center, and inspired by good people who will be the leaders, teachers, and truly the life of the center the years to come.
My final days in Biga were bitter-sweet; bitter because I would have to leave my friends there again soon, and because there were still so many more people who I hadn't had a chance to see. Sweet because I felt that we had accomplished a lot in my short time there, and that we were beginning to see community support in very concrete ways.
Last Thursday, Ayfer and I met with representatives from Dogtas to measure out the dimensions of the kitchen and women's classroom, and to match our needs with their product options:
On Friday, the municipality sent workers to clean our site and to move some materials into the center:
Also on Friday, Ayfer Baykal and I met with Omer Kucuk to make a concrete and realistic building plan. With knowledge of when supplies are going to come and how long each step will take, we determined that the center construction will be finished by the end of September.
Final, on Friday at 4pm, the women who will be running the center met with the Biga mayor and local press at the center site. They discussed what this center will mean for the community and how to best equip it with necessary resources, and to disburse those resources into the community.
Though not 100% correct in content, articles in local papers like this one reported the gist of the event:
Finally, also in the last days of my visit, Ayfer Baykal held the second meeting for volunteers and teachers at the Biga Women and Children's Center:
There were difficult times during my visit; supplies did not arrive on time and some local promises of support were left unfulfilled; the building did not physically change while I was there. But, through hard work and optimism, we were able to accomplish a lot. We hired a builder, we ordered supplies, we found in-kind support from some wonderful local businesses. We pulled more and more people on-board. We brought in business people to support equal education for children from poorer families, found women who wanted to help other women come together and become economically and socially empowered, and told everyone we could about the center and the many possibilities it holds for improving the futures of Biga women and children.
We asked for help and found it; we thanked people for their time and they thanked us - BTF especially - for caring about their community.
Even though I am back in the US, I am going to continue to blog in "real-time" with the help of every-other-day emails from Biga - so stay tuned!
Our opening ceremony is now planned for October, and I am going to do everything in my power to get back to Biga for the occasion.
As always, thanks for reading and for supporting!
all my best,
Jill
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