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The Turks Conclude ‘Orhaniye' To Be Home For War-stricken Darfuris
8 July 2009
With the civil war in Darfur, which started in 2003 and has cost at least 400,000 lives, displacing 2 million more, the world has seen a huge need for rebuilding infrastructure in the impoverished and war-shattered region. Incredible amounts of international aid have flowed to the region, including some from Turkey. Yet the damage is huge, and the temporary aid has not brought a permanent solution to ruined villages, separated families and thousands of displaced people from Darfur in refugee camps. In this atmosphere, the need for a permanent solution, namely the town of “Orhaniye,” is clear, as the Turkish aid association Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) has seen. Kimse Yok Mu headed to Darfur for the first time in February 2007. The scene they saw consisted of ruined villages and thousands of people in refugee camps. The organization launched an aid campaign titled “Isn't anybody there to hold my hand?” for Darfur that March. The organization mobilized to meet the needs of people in refugee camps thanks to the aid that flowed from Turkey. They supplied clean water for the suffering Sudanese. But as time passed, it became apparent that it would do no good to provide temporary aid and then leave the locals alone: It was understood that permanent seeds needed to be sown in order for the people of Darfur to return to normal life. After providing food aid for the refugees, an aid commission founded in cooperation with the Darfur Governor's Office decided to launch a large-scale and permanent town project aimed at helping victims of the ongoing war in Darfur get out of the temporary refugee camps they are living in and return to a real home. The foundation put in place plans to establish a town, to be named Orhaniye, in Darfur, a region plagued by hunger, poverty and disaster. Construction of the town started that September. The head of the foundation, Mehmet Zeki Özkara, visited Sudan in December 2007 with a delegation to have meetings about the project with Sudanese authorities. Included in the delegation were various businessmen, academics and agricultural experts. Members of the delegation analyzed the plans for the new town, including its police station, mosque and health clinic. They also studied plans for a primary school that could accommodate 500 students, a preschool, a daycare center, a market, four water storage tanks, water fountains for each neighborhood, a community building and the mayor's office. Özkara and his delegation also met with Turkish Ambassador to Sudan M. Fatih Ceylan, Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) Coordinator Murat Oral, Sudanese Agricultural Ministry representative Muhammad Ragi and Turkish businessmen in Sudan regarding the plans. ‘Give a Turkish name to our town’ Speaking to Sunday's Zaman, the head of the aid association said they thought the town should be one where people would live, engage in agriculture and animal breeding, receive an education, find a profession and meet their social needs. “The Darfur Governor's Office welcomed the project. They proposed some areas where the town could be built. We chose one, and the first thing we did was to meet with the residents of the village to ascertain their needs,” he said. Three mills were constructed and three wells were repaired in the village by Kimse Yok Mu volunteers. Repair work on the village clinic, mosque and police station have also been completed since then, Özkara noted. “At first, villagers approached Kimse Yok Mu volunteers, who were giving many things to them but taking nothing in return, with hesitation. They did not even believe that they were Muslims. As time passed, they started to help the volunteers and began to look forward to the completion of the project. Then, a historic demand came from the villagers: ‘Give a Turkish name to our village,'” said Özkara. Özkara said the board of directors of Kimse Yok Mu then decided to name the village Orhaniye, which is the name of a historic village in the province of Bursa in Turkey. In the meantime, while construction of Orhaniye was under way, the organization continued to supply food, provide health screenings for thousands and perform hundreds of cataract operations, which is a disease many Sudanese suffer from due to poverty and a shortage of doctors in Darfur. Cataract operations are being carried out in the region, and Kimse Yok Mu's target is 200,000 successful operations, Özkara said. ‘How can a white man be Muslim?' Emin Çalhanoglu, a Kimse Yok Mu volunteer who frequently travels to Darfur for the organization's aid activities, is among those who went to the village where Orhaniye is being constructed. “When we were going to the village, I knew that it was a devastated village evacuated after the war. I was expecting to see a hundred families and ruined houses. Yet there were only six families, and no houses,” Çalhanoglu told Sunday's Zaman. Stating that villagers first called them “havace,” which means infidel in their language, he said they didn't believe that these “white men” were also Muslims until after performing prayers with them. Stating that there is still much to do in Orhaniye, such as building the school, he said the task of appointing a teacher for the school also falls on Kimse Yok Mu volunteers. “I have full confidence in the Orhaniye project. Many things will change in Darfur. Darfur will come out of its shell with our projects in agriculture and infrastructure and the vocational courses we will provide. But everyone should believe in the project and contribute to it,” Çalhanoglu said. Kimse Yok Mu has many volunteer architects, urban and regional planners and financial supporters. Nese Erden took part in the technical aspect of the project. “I became a Kimse Yok Mu volunteer for the search and rescue unit of the organization some time ago. But I started to be interested in Darfur as I got to know about the activities of the organization. I was asked to draw up plans for Orhaniye. I did,” Erden said. Stating that she then traveled to Darfur to present the plans to Sudanese officials with Kimse Yok Mu representatives, she said her opinions about Darfur became clearer then. “I met a 54-year-old woman. She said she never had a walled house in her life. That made my will to do something for Darfur become stronger,” she said. Several large steps have been taken toward the realization of Orhaniye so far, with contributions from many. The organization is also getting ready to launch a new campaign to find sponsors to finish the construction of the village, as there is still much to do for Orhaniye that can only be achieved with the contribution of volunteers from Turkey and throughout the world.
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