We’re Here Hatay was founded immediately after the twin earthquakes by locals supporting their neighbors, friends, and families, and they’ve stayed true to their name and mission ever since.
More than three years later, its name has taken on an even deeper meaning.
They are still here.
As the needs of their community changed, so did their work. Emergency response gave way to helping small businesses recover, creating safe spaces for children, supporting young people, and responding to new challenges as they emerged. Through the TPF Earthquake Fund, we were the first to provide a grant to them and have supported Buradayız Hatay at different points along that journey, investing in locally led recovery that evolves with the community it serves.
Today, one of those investments is helping strengthen the Buradayız Hatay Youth & Community Hub, a place young people have increasingly made their own.
For many young people still navigating the disruption left by the earthquakes, including life in temporary housing, the Center offers something that can be difficult to find: a place that feels steady.
They come to study, participate in arts and cultural activities, receive support, volunteer, spend time with friends, and simply be together. What began as a place to study has gradually become something deeper: a home away from home.
Perhaps the clearest sign of what the Center means can be found in what happens when people begin giving something back to it.
One university student who had received support from Buradayız Hatay returned during the summer to help younger students prepare for their exams. He sat beside them, worked through questions, and shared what he had learned from his own experience.
A father who regularly brought his daughter to the Center found another way to contribute. He came back to repair and repaint its walls.
Neither gesture was part of a formal program. That is precisely what makes them meaningful.
They show what happens when people begin to feel that a space belongs to them. They care for it. They contribute to it. And eventually, they help create that same sense of support for someone else.
For Buradayız Hatay, recovery has never been about one project. It has been about remaining present as the needs around them change.
A study space becomes a community hub. Someone who once received support becomes the person offering it. A parent becomes a volunteer. And little by little, a place affected by extraordinary loss begins rebuilding something that cannot be constructed with bricks alone: connection, trust, and belonging.
Buradayız Hatay said it in its name from the beginning:
We are here.
And perhaps one of the most important measures of recovery is knowing that local organizations like this will continue to be here for the communities that call Hatay home.