Happy Days are Here Again

[Pi55y]

The lyrics of the popular song “Happy Days are here again" never rang truer than last week when 20 excited youngsters from the Fethiye  “Love Homes” boarded  day  boat “Happy Days” for their long anticipated  annual boat trip.

The children who live in the aptly named “Love Homes” are either orphans, victims of abuse  or they have parents who are unable to take care of them. The five homes set up last year in the Fethiye/Ciftlik area by the Governor of Fethiye provide permanent foster homes, under the care of “house mums” for small groups of these youngsters, providing them with a loving, caring stable and safe home environment.

Last year on hearing of the new initiative the 3C’s committed to help the youngsters, and provided several thousand liras worth of goods to help equip the new homes with extras as well as providing clothes and personal items for the children. We also hired the same day boat “Happy Days” to take the children out on their first ever boat trip and it was such an enjoyable, unforgettable experience both for the children and the 3C’s members that the charity members vowed to make it an annual event for the children. Throughout the year whenever we met up with the children it was always the same question “When can we go on another boat trip”

Last week, the long awaited day finally arrived and the excited children and their house mums arrived early at Fethiye harbour to board “Happy Days”.  Five 3C’s members loaded down with trays of carton juices, big bottles of coke, lemonade, water, crisps and sweets  joined them along with representatives of FETAV, for yet another unforgettable trip.

The captain and crew of “Happy Days” again did us proud and we cannot thank them enough for their help in planning the day and their diligence in watching out for the safety of the children both on the boat and in the water at all times.

It was an absolutely lovely day. All the children enjoyed themselves  swimming and fishing and splashing each other in the water. This year there were some new comers to the homes including a little girl of about three (a real sweetie, angelic in her new pink swimsuit and swimshoes) so they had never been on a boat trip before. At first they were very shy and in awe of the boat and their surroundings,  but it didn’t take them long to overcome this and join in the fun. The other children, now “old hands” at sea cruises were more than happy to show off their fishing and swimming skills to the “newbies”.   It also didn’t take the three year old long to discover she had a mean right arm when she started throwing stones into the water (and at passing committee members!). 

At lunch time everyone tucked into a delicious fish meal and after a couple more swim stops (and a long afternoon sleep for the little one), everyone returned to Fethiye tired but very happy. Despite their tiredness, the youngsters, were still very well mannered polite and all thanked the 3C’s for their perfect day before disembarking.

Again we would love to post pictures of the youngsters to show you what a good time they had but unfortunately, and understandably, we have to respect the privacy of these youngsters.

And now for even more good news, the 3C’s would like to thank an “anonymous” member of CBF who, after hearing  about the success of last year’s boat trip, deposited  750TL towards the cost of hiring the boat this year into the 3C’s bank account. I say “anonymous” as I have written to the member concerned asking if I can name them but I have not yet had a reply to this request.  A huge thanks from the 3C’s and  all of the children for your generosity   .

[Lotty]

Sounds like a truly wonderful day again, thanks for posting Pi55y. I can just imagine all their happy faces and their joy at something that we all, along with our children, take for granted. Such a worthwhile cause, well done everyone involved!

[kayakebab]

It was wonderful. Such lovely children, exceptionally well behaved, very polite and grateful and they had wonderful time.
Very relaxing for the committee members, we really didn't have to do anything except watch them enjoy themselves and hand out the occasional packet of crisps and sweets.
One thing I did notice, they tear the family packs of crisps open and lay them flat so everyone can dig in rather than one person eating most and occasionally handing round. I really liked that and typical of the sharing culture here.

The little girl was so cute, even when stones were flying last our heads!
Thank you so much to the anonymous person for helping to make this trip possible.

[Highlander]

Fabulous stuff as always   

[daughter]

I have just finished reading the message about this boat trip for the Children in Fethiya . It does the heart good to read that in this crazy sometimes even MAD times that we live in , that there are people that can still show kindness to others especially children . From a Mother and Grandmother of 6 Grandsons I thank you .

[bewva]

Sounds like a brilliant day. Thanks for posting Pi55y