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IN THIS ISSUE: Letter from the President ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS Financial Update CULTURAL NEWS Turkish Folk Dance |
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VISION To create
a model for peace and sustainable democracy in the Middle East
by encouraging the growth of Turkish civil society. MISSION To support the education system in Turkey; to strengthen Turkish nonprofit organizations; and to promote cultural exchange. |
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Friends of Anatolia P.O. Box 20511 |
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ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS Financial Update As of April 4, 2005, we have raised $7,790 from individual donations and company matching for general support. We have raised nearly $2,000 within the last two weeks! We are only $2,210 away from matching I. Betil's $10,000 challenge gift. Please donate before the April 15 deadline and help us achieve this financial goal! |
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Advisory Council Once again many thanks to our wonderful volunteers who accepted to serve on our Advisory Council. To learn more about them, click on their names below. Necdet
Aydogan |
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Released Documents To read our previously published public outreach material, please visit our website and feel free to share them with your friends. |
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Volunteer Orientation Our next orientation will be held on Saturday, April 16th at 2pm on Stanford campus. This is a great opportunity to learn more about Friends of Anatolia, to meet with the behind the scenes people and to get involved! If you are available, please send your confirmation to: info@friendsofanatolia.org |
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2005 Donor Roll $500 - $999 $250 - $499 $100 - $249 $0 - $99 2005 Company Matches |
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Letter from the President Dear Friends, Since our first issue, we kept working hard. Our first volunteer orientation on March 20th went very well, and in the end, our volunteer family got bigger. Within the last two weeks, we held our 6th official Board meeting, prepared our first grant proposal, started working on our fundraising dinner in May, and most importantly, we completed the needs assessment for our first school project. Of course this is not all we did. On the administrative side, we got a fax number, found an accountant to audit our bookkeeping, and almost finalized our purchase for donor management software. However, we are still seeking a lawyer and the right insurance plan. Our biggest challenge is still the same: To match our $10,000 challenge gift before it expires on April 15th. So far, we have raised $7,790 of it from individual contributions and company matches, which means almost $2,000 was raised in the last two weeks! All we need to do is keep up with this pace, because without resources dreams are just dreams. A lot of things are getting done with this small group of committed volunteers. It is getting more exciting everyday because we see the impact of our hard work immediately! Please continue to support us in this journey! Warm Regards, Demet Yezgi After the broadcast of my interview on TRT-INT, which was repeated three times, we received such wonderful messages of support not only from people in Turkey and the U.S., but also from people in Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, England… It is amazing to see how fast the good news travels. |
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Board
of Directors We have held our 6th Board of Directors meeting on March 27th, 2005. These meetings are open to all our volunteers, and attendance usually is much higher than the actual number of interim board members. During our last meeting, we spent some time on administrative issues, as well as our upcoming fundraising dinner, and the school project in Turkey. Come join us for our next meeting on April 24, 2005! Note: Elections for the new board are coming up. If you are interested, please let us know! |
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My name is Carlo and I was born in Istanbul. I work as a community organizer in San Francisco where I live with my family and newborn son. In my work, I am involved in a campaign to build grassroots leadership and promote deeper community participation in the development of our neighborhoods. As a participant in Friends of Anatolia, I hope to apply some of these work experiences to strengthen community based organizations in Turkey. |
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The Dibekduzu
Project As we wrote in our
last issue, For the Dibekduzu Project we aim to renovate the school building and its classrooms, so that the students can study in better conditions. We will also provide additional educational tools. Hopefully, these improvements will motivate the students and persuade their families to let their children continue their education, as well as encourage the teachers to stay in the village for a longer period of time.
Since last month we have been in contact with the school teacher and gathered a lot of information on the school. Our Program Development Committee assessed the needs and came up with the first draft of our project and a tentative action plan. We are hoping to raise enough money before June and we will start the repairs in mid-June, right after the school year ends. We hope our actions will bring hope and new perspectives to the lives of the students, teachers and parents in Dibekduzu in a way only a friendly helping hand reaching from far away could do. Stay tuned, more information and photos will be posted on our website soon! |
we
are starting our first school repair project for Dibekduzu
Elementary
School in Sanli Urfa, Turkey. 
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FOA Banner We have designed our first web banners. If you would like to use one of these on your website, please e-mail us.
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CULTURAL ARTICLES Turkish
Folk Dance With each region having its characteristic costumes, steps, rhythms and instruments, Turkish folk dance reflects the diversity of ethnic backgrounds and distinctive ways of life in Turkey. Mostly performed during weddings, religious and national holidays, the dances tell the story of the people: how they dealt with nature and celebrated their joys together.
Come and enjoy these dances with a performance by Yore Folk Dance Ensemble at our fundraising dinner on May 21, 2005. |
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Cappadocia Cappadocia is a region in south-central
Anatolia. The most famous area is around the towns
of Goreme and Urgup where millions of years ago, volcanic eruptions
layed
down thick
layers of ash which later formed a soft tuff interspersed with
harder layers of rock. Some 1500 years ago, early Christians began carving houses and churches into these soft rock formations. The area around Goreme is riddled with these habitations, many of which were in use until the late 1950s. There are even whole monestaries, with living quarters, classrooms, mess halls, stables, barns and beautifully painted churches hidden away in valleys around the town.
Cappadocia is a popular vacation destination and has many hotels, museums, and tour guides catering to those wishing to experience this unique landscape. |
The
tuff has eroded
and formed dramatic gorges and spires, the latter often
topped with a "hat" of
harder rock. 
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Did you know that Anatolia... Is known as "the cradle of civilization," and hosted on its soil some of the first human settlements, dating to almost 12,000 years ago. Is was the home of many ancient cultures: Hittites, Urartians, Lydians, and Ionians to name a few. |
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Dish of the
month Manti is a dish Turks brought from Central Asia. Mini dumplings with a filling made of ground meat, onion and spices are boiled, drained and served with garlic yogurt and a sauce made of tomato paste and butter. It may also be prepared with chickpea or spinach filling.
Manti of Kayseri, a central Anatolian province, is famous for its small size. It is said that Kayseri manti is so tiny, 40 pieces of it fit in one spoon. To try this tasty dish, you can go to New Kapadokia in Redwood City, CA. |
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Let's Learn Turkish! The Turkish alphabet has 8 vowels and 21 consonants. The letters Q,W and X do not exist in Turkish. Most letters are pronounced as they are in English. In general, stress tends to be placed on the last syllable in a word. Turkish is completely phonetic, so once you know the pronunciation of the Turkish letters, you can read any Turkish text! A few pronunciations:
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Friends of Anatolia is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization
under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.