After the devastating earthquake in Turkey on February 6, the Bursa Koza Lions Club recognized that the quake had lasting effects, especially on children’s education. Seeing much of the essential aid like water, food and hygiene supplies coming in and out of the area and assisting with distribution of essential supplies, the Bursa Kosa Lions wondered if there were other areas of support that could be offered. Based on some of their previous service projects and investment in youth initiatives, the Lions felt it was important to continue addressing this effort. Below are the club’s thoughts on the project and its impact:
Q: What was the motivation behind organizing your club’s service project? Was there a specific event or need in your community?
A: Our original project, “Let’s Give the World to Children,” was initiated by Bursa Koza Lions Club for children affected by the earthquake. Like most of Turkey, our club was shocked by the magnitude of the earthquake disaster that occurred on the morning of February 6, 2023. Because of our experience in the 1999 Gölcük earthquake, however, we were able to organize the project quickly. Urgent needs such as food, clothing and beverages were immediately delivered to the region by Lions. Our club provided soup, blankets, scarves, beanies and gloves to 1,000 people through local producers in the earthquake zone but knew we could do more to help children impacted by the earthquake in addition to providing supplies.
Q: Who was involved in helping you organize the project? Were there other organizations or clubs involved? Or people in your community?
A: We wanted to search for a company that produced the best, most durable and affordable containers, and eventually crossed paths with Architectural Designer Nehir ÖZBEY. Understanding the need for a safe space for children to learn and play, we decided to purchase one of the containers created by Architect ÖZBEY. Eventually, we received so much interest and appreciation from the community that we were able to purchase four more containers. This was possible through member and family donations.
Children learning in one of the MiniKo containers
Q: When did you recognize that this specific issue in your community needed to be addressed through a service project?
A: We believed that more sustainable service projects should be carried out in our communities for a long time, especially in terms of providing shelter for community members. In this case, we decided to work with MD 118 and the Bursa Nilüfer Municipality to establish a Tent City in Hatay and a Container City in Adiyaman where we could keep the MiniKo containers long term.
Q: How did your club organize the service project? Did you use any materials like our Lions’ resources or external resources?
A: After organizing ceremonies and preparing the containers, two of the four containers we donated were delivered to Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Lions Disaster Village, established in Hatay Expo, and the other to Bursa Nilüfer Municipality Container City, established in Hatay Samandağ. The other two containers were then sent to Lions Container City, established in Adiyaman.
Bursa Nilüfer Municipality was able to assist in the delivery of four containers to their locations in the disaster area. To ensure its effective use, we were able to appoint an internal trainer for the MiniKo container. Additionally, the Antakya Directorate of National Education assigned kindergarten teachers to the Disaster Village on a rotating basis. Using our knowledge of the Lions International Children’s First Program for years, we were happy to be able to reach our children in the earthquake zone.
Construction of the MiniKo containers
Q: What was the outcome of your service project? Did your club make an impact on the issue it was to address?
A: The four MiniKos containers make little hearts happy with the support of our members and donors. We believe that with this project, we have contributed to the promotion of the Lions brand by providing a good example of how Lions work quickly and effectively during natural disasters. This is in addition to their routine activities. We continue to provide support for the MiniKos containers and supply them with necessary items while displaying our brand.
Additionally, we continue creating happiness for our earthquake-affected children. In the future, our aim is to deliver more containers to the earthquake zone and the club’s focus will continue to be in this area of disaster relief and youth aid.
To learn more about our 2022-23 Kindness Matters Service Award winners, please visit our website.
Elena McNab is the program development specialist at Lions International.
