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Turkish students volunteer in 2 African countries

Student volunteers visit leprosy patients in Senegal and plant saplings in Chad

14.08.2018 - Update : 14.08.2018
Turkish students volunteer in 2 African countries

DAKAR/ ABUJA

Turkish students are volunteering in Senegal and Chad as part of a program run by the Turkish state aid agency.

In the Western African nation of Senegal, volunteers went to a village called Medina Sharif, where leprosy patients live. They repaired and painted more than 30 houses. The students also donated medicines to people.

Abdulselam Bagis, a student from Eskisehir Osmangazi University, told Anadolu Agency they were warmly welcomed in the village. He said the purpose of their visit is to build a bridge between the people.

"We are having fun with the village children despite language constraints. We give them balloons, candies and chocolates as a present, they play soccer with us. The happiness on their faces is indescribable, they love to see and talk to us, and they shake our hands fondly when we say we are from Turkey. When I return to Turkey I will explain about these people, their culture, and heartfelt love," he added.

Yunus Emre Buzkan, a civil engineering student at Istanbul University, said the number of people affected by the disease is high; he underlined their effort to be self-sufficient, saying the villagers had built poultry houses from materials around them.

"We have realized how seriously they need access to clean water and education. We witnessed drinking water is their need," he added.

Under the same TIKA program, Turkish students visited the central African nation of Chad.

The volunteer students planted 150 saplings on the streets of Chad's capital N'Djamena.

Oguzhan Can, one of the volunteers, told Anadolu Agency the aim of their campaign is to conserve the environment. "We started our day saying 'these saplings will save a country'; we planted 150 mango seedlings in the fertile soil of Chad."

"When we come to this land after 10-15 years, we will have a tree to sit under its shelter and children who will welcome us with love," he added.

TIKA, Turkish Airlines, Anadolu Agency, and Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) have co-organized the 2018 Experience Sharing Program.

Under the program, TIKA is sending some 500 Turkish students from 117 universities to 30 countries between July 29 and Sept. 8 to take part in nearly 100 projects and activities in their host countries.

The program covers such countries as Niger, Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Djibouti, Chad, Morocco, Ghana, Georgia, Cameroon, Montenegro, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Colombia, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mozambique, Namibia, Uzbekistan, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Jordan, Moldova and South Africa.

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