NEW LIVES, NEW HOPES

As KIZILAYKART communication team, we participated in one of the field visits that our field teams carried out periodically. A grandmother over 100 years of age, welcomed us in their modest home where they lived with children and grandchildren.

The residents of Şehit Kamil district of Gaziantep is very excited with our visit. The people who heard that we are representing KIZILAYKART, are starting to ask questions to us about the programme. We remind them KIZILAYKART free call center 168 and moving towards the home of the family we scheduled to visit. We are entering an old, worn-out apartment with three cattles and apparently not completed yet which is located in the neighborhood of refugees living under International/ Temporary Protection. As soon as apartment residents realize that we are coming, they are beginning to wash apartment stairs quickly.

Compulsory Migration Route from Aleppo to Gaziantep

Atala family are living in Turkey for 4 years. The family, which had to migrate from Syria to Aleppo due to war, left everything behind. Before migrating to Turkey, tailoring was their family bussiness.

14 people in the same household live together in 4 different generations. Grandmother Mrs. Hatica is 105 years old as she is the eldest of family, her sorrow seems clearly from her face and from tired eyes. At the door, Aischa, the youngest 2-years-old of the family, welcomes us with curious and shy eyes. There are three other children whose ages are close to each other. They are all embarrassed and hiding behind their mothers, occasionally showing off their beautiful faces as they leave their hiding places. Children do not know war, neediness, immigration; it will take time to understand what is going on... It will be a painful memory, perhaps the days of childhood in which they live.

“We can pay our bills now by KIZILAYKART”

They have been receiving assistance from the KIZILAYKART Programme for the last two months. 3 of the family members are eligible and they can benefit from the assistance. They stated that, by the beneficial contribution of the ESSN assistance they could be able to pay the utility bills and allocate more resources for their basic needs. Grandmother Mrs. Hatica says with thankfulness that, “Turkey is very nice, they were very helpful for us. But hopefully the war ends and we can go back to our country”.

As the communication team of KIZILAYKART, we are delighted to see that assistance have a positive effect on the life of a vulnerable family. We are leaving the house with the smiley face of the family who expressed their gratitude.