First Humanitarian Projects

Last Tuesday we had our first appointment with a potential partner organization for a humanitarian project. We had been anxious to get started, but were delayed by our interpreter, who needed some medical attention to her ankle before she was able to get around. She finally made an appointment with the Turkish Foundation for the Blind, and when we arrived, we were introduced to about 10 people, who all sat down with us around a large table. We were slightly unnerved by the size of the group, which turned out to be the entire board of directors of the foundation. One of them was a sort of elder statesman, whose card described him as "Ex Minister of State" and "Ex President of Religious Affairs". That made us wonder if they would want to work with us. When we traded business cards, one of the board members asked what the "LDS" meant in "LDS Charities". Ron told him, "Latter-day Saints", and he asked, "Isn't that Christian?" Ron said, "Yes", and there was a pause. (Ankara is about 99% Muslim, and many do not to work with Christians.) Then the conversation went on. It was not an issue after that. The president of the foundation is very sharp and speaks a lot of English; it turns out he got a Masters from USC in the 60's. He will be great to work with.

They showed us a small computer lab, where 5 blind persons were using "talking computers" to learn computer and secretarial skills under instruction from a teacher. They hope to expand the lab to accommodate 10 students and hope we can help them. We'll decide about that as we get more info on cost, sustainability, etc. They were very cordial to us, and even served us herb tea while they drank their tea (an invariable part of business and social meetings). We left feeing pretty good about our first effort to represent LDS Charities. We felt like we had received some "tender mercies" when we needed them.

The next day we visited a school for disabled children. In Turkey, many parents of disabled children are ashamed, and their elders encourage them to keep the children at home and not educate them. So a vital part of this school is family education. We're looking forward to working with this family-oriented school!