We mark the one year anniversary of Soma Mining Disaster
But with each passing day, Soma and surrounding towns recover as our community, far and near, came together to support rebuilding and resilience activities.
With enormous gratitude to every donor that has contributed to the cause, TPF can proudly say we have helped fund four projects in Soma, over the past year. Those projects would never have been possible if it weren’t for the $141,835 we received in donations.
With enormous gratitude to more than 500 donors that have contributed to the cause, TPF can proudly say we have helped fund four projects, over the past year:
- Cagdas Yasami Destekleme Dernegi (Association for the Support of Contemporary Living, CYDD) in the amount of $45,000
- Darussafaka Cemiyeti (Darussafaka Society) in the amount of $45,000
- Anne Cocuk Egitim Vakfi (Mother Child Education Foundation, ACEV) in the amount of $30,000
- Anatolian Artisans in the amount of $21,835
We are honored that you selected TPF. We are also proud that our community came together under the umbrella of TPF; eight Turkish-American organizations channeled their giving through TPF, and many others directed their members to give through TPF’s campaign, knowing how carefully we will choose the ultimate recipients.
After analyzing the needs in detail, since the government’s disaster agency, AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency), provided emergency aid for recovery, TPF decided to support organizations involved in rebuilding and resilience activities in Soma and surrounding towns.
Our decision on awarding grants was based on the following factors:
- Most of the relief efforts targeted Soma. However, the victims spread to more than 15 towns.
- All scholarships, to the children of miners who lost their lives, are being administered by AFAD.
- 301 lives were lost at the Soma mining disaster. This left 418 children with no fathers. Thirty-two percent of these children are under the age of five, 38 percent are attending elementary school, and 24 percent are over 12 years of age. Fifty-one percent of school-aged children are boys and 49 percent are girls.
Based on these findings, TPF has funded the following projects:
- Establishment of a Cultural Activity Center in SOMA by CYDD: TPF’s grant assisted CYDD to purchase a building to house a Cultural Activity Center and helped with the operating costs of the first year. The Cultural Activity Center features creative studios for children, provides sessions for psychosocial support and offers skill-building workshops to both men and women. The Center became a hub for many other organization that wanted to provide services to the community including TPF supported projects, Anatolian Artisans’ Soma workshop and ACEV’s Child Education Programs.
- Scholarships through Darussafaka Society: Darussafaka Society with approval from AFAD provides scholarships to students who lost their fathers at the mining tragedy. TPF’s grant will provide full scholarships for one year at Darussafaka Schools to four students in the 2015-16 school year.
- Child Education Programs by ACEV: ACEV provides child education programs to address mid to long-term needs of the towns affected by the disaster at CYDD’s Cultural Activity Center. Programs cover a variety of educational topics from pre-school education, play and reading groups and family education to adult literacy, serving 1,500 to 2,000 families per year.
- Artisanal Workshops by Anatolian Artisans: The project trains women to put their traditional skills in “Oya” crochet work, embroidery and sewing in production of marketable goods. The program started with the training of a group of initial 20 women between March 24 – April 8, 2015 by two professional craft designers who worked on successful similar projects in Tibet, Myanmar, India, Nepal and Gaza. The produced goods will be exhibited at the New York Gift Fair in July 2015 and January 2016 fairs to obtain orders from wholesale buyers. Further, the products will be marketed to Textile Museum and Smithsonian Museum gift stores in Washington. The goal is to make the enterprise sustainable and provide income to women who lost their husbands at the mining disaster or who desperately need steady income to support their families since their husbands lost their jobs after the disaster.
Team TPF
