A Visit to the Village of Hısarlıkaya

We had a most interesting experience at a small, isolated village which is at least an hour outside of Ankara and even 30 minutes from any other village. LDS Charities provided tables, chairs and educational toys for the kindergarten class and also a multi-purpose printer for the office. The school is just two rooms at present: grades 1-3 meet in one room, grades 4-5 in another. Although there is also a kindergarten room, right now the kindergarten students are divided between the other two classes, since the teacher had to leave a couple of months ago and has not been replaced. Each of the classrooms is heated by a wood stove, and the bathroom is a separate, unheated, very dilapidated building.

There are about 40 students in the Hısarlıkaya school, and they are very sweet. The older students wrote us letters to thank us for our donations. They called us “Elizabeth teyze” and “Ron amca” (Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Ron), which is common for younger people to do to show respect for their elders. Practically every letter said, “Sizi çok seviyorum” (I love you very much).

After visiting the school, we went with some Lions Club members to the community building where the women of the village were gathered to have their blood pressure and blood sugar checked by a doctor. What an amazing sight it was to see about 50 village women seated around the room on the traditional carpet-covered benches. They all wore the baggy pants that look like skirts until just above the ankle, where the skirt divides into two legs. They could easily sit cross-legged in such an outfit, and many did. They all wore headscarves and colorful outfits, and we “city women” looked and felt very different from them. Our interpreter said most of them have only the 5th grade education that they got there in the village. Now children must attend more school, but it was not required until several years ago. I wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t want to be offensive; so I admired a baby and asked if I could take a picture of the baby. Of course, I got a few women in the picture, too. The woman was very pleased (and so was I), and when she left, she hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks—even though most people aren’t doing that these days for fear of swine flu.

We talked to the doctor after the village women had left, and she said that they found many women with blood pressure and blood sugar which was too high, but she was convinced that they wouldn’t be able to do much about it. The nearest doctor is at least 30 minutes away, and we saw very few cars in the village. The doctor feared that even if the women got diagnosed and treated once, keeping up on regular visits and prescriptions would probably be too difficult for most of the women.

One of my friends told me that her mother had been "too old" to come to her wedding. I was surprised to find that this OLD mother was several years younger than I. "But village life is very hard," my friend said. It is! We feel very blessed!