Project Report
| Mar 15, 2023
WE WILL HEAL WOUNDS THROUGH EDUCATION
By Filiz Celebi | Scholarship project leader
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Dear donor,
On February 6th, Turkey was shaken by two powerful earthquakes which destroyed 11 cities in southeastern Turkey where CYDD has 8 local branches and 3600 scholarship students. About 12.5 million people were affected and 3.5 million of these were children below age 14. Many families surviving the earthquake lost their houses and their personal belongings and had to move to other towns to stay with relatives or in temporary accommodation offered by municipalities, hotels, boarding houses.
High school education in the earthquake region was stopped until end March as many schools were destroyed but schools in other regions recommenced in a fortnight. The students who moved to other towns with their families started applying for support to CYDD branches in those towns.
We said we will help people heal their wounds and as our main focus is on education, we felt obliged to meet the new demand for scholarships from hundreds of students who have lost their homes, computers, books and personal belongings. We decided to give them scholarships until their graduation and also technological support.
An SMS campaign “We will heal wounds thru education” was started but we need your support now more than ever to reach as many girls as possible.
Thank you,
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Nov 16, 2022
GIRLS FROM HAKKARI AND YUKSEKOVA
By Filiz Celebi | Scholarship project leader
![CYDD Hakkari students]()
CYDD Hakkari students
Dear donor,
CYDD has been supporting girls from disadvantaged families all over Turkey with high school scholarships. These girls are from everywhere, from remote villages in the east, to families living in big cities but who have migrated from eastern towns.
We have a story for every one of them but today we would like to write about some 100 girls we support from Hakkari and Yüksekova. Some of these girls are in their senior class and we provided them with notebook computers so they can attend free online CYDD courses given in Istanbul to prepare them for the university exams. Providing notebooks is not enough because nowhere in Yüksekova (except Yeni Mahalle) there is internet infrastructure. So we have to rely on phone companies and buy prepaid mobile hotspot cards to connect to internet through a mobile phone. Most families own a single mobile phone and one girl recently said “ I will make sure my mother will not leave home with her phone when it’s time for my online course.”
Some of the girls we support from Yüksekova are also members of a successful cross country skiing team with medals and have trainings every day after classes. With their trainer who also was a former CYDD scholarship girl, they ski for 15km every day if there is snow and when there is no snow on the ground they train on short skis with rollers. These girls all study hard to finish high school and go on to university with the support of CYDD and our valuable donors.
We hope to report to you next year this time, the success in the university exams of these senior year students who study in difficult conditions but keep up their hope thanks to our joint support.
Kind regards,
![training without snow]()
training without snow
![Training on snow]()
Training on snow
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Jul 26, 2022
MORE GIRLS TO EMPOWER in 2022-2023
By Filiz Celebi | CYDD Headquarters Scholarship Department Head
![Summer reading for secondary school girls]()
Summer reading for secondary school girls
Dear donor,
We are getting ready for a new school year which will start in two months. Scholarship amount to be given to girls in secondary school and high school for 2022-2023 is increased by about 40% and will be 250TL/month for 10 months. We will continue giving scholarships to girls we have been supporting but the number of new scholarship recipients will be decided according to funds available in autumn.
These new students will also be given technological support; notebook computers and internet connection if they do not already have one. They will also be asked to attend the online Young Starfish and other STEM education projects which are designed by CYDD and given in collaboration with competent professionals. We aim to increase the number of students profiting from these educational projects by 15%.
We also have 1210 girls who graduated from high school in June 2022 and we are waiting for their university exam results. We hope this year at least 50% of the graduates will continue on to university and we will of course be supporting them with our university scholarship Project “You Can Light a Candle too.”
We look forward to your donations so that we can empower more girls this coming school year.
Thank you…
Kind regards,
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