We were very pleased to be invited to visit the houses in Ciftlik yesterday, our first stop was to the home of 5 boys aged between 4 and 6. They were bundles of energy but really polite and the most well behaved little lads you can imagine. The house is lovely, one of the Mums showed us around, we went into a bedroom to see three tiny single beds, all made up immaculately and a perfectly tidy room, it was really impressive. The boys have a playroom where they were busy with colouring books and all keen to show us the works of art they had created.
The thing that strikes you immediately is the genuine love and affection shown to the boys by their Mum, each home has three 'Mums' who each work a 24 hour shift every third day.
Our second visit was home to five more boys, this time all aged about 9, immediately our conversation turned to football, Fernabache, Galatasaray, Barcelona and then Graham brought Burnley into the mix, the look of puzzlement on their faces was a picture.
I thought one of the most touching comments was when their Mum told us how they love to tell their school friends "I'm going home now" a simple comment like that which makes them feel "normal" she also said that they now look forward to activities at school which involve parents, previously they would have been supported by a member of staff from the orphanage, now they can say "here's my Mum" such simple things but so important to helping these lads who through no fault of their own have been handed a pretty rough start in life.
I think the local authority have done a brilliant job in setting up these homes, as you know, the first four are home to 20 boys, they told us that they are now turning their attention to creating the same thing for girls and the first one should be open soon and be home to four sisters. One of the most impressive things I found out was that this is now a permanent home to all of these children, they can even return home from university and remain there while looking for a job, in fact the decision when to leave home will be totally in the hands of the young adults themselves.
We asked if we could help in any way, some of the little boys (5 years) could do with some summer clothes, so if you have room in your suitcase, a nice new outfit would be greatly appreciated. On a more practical level, they have asked if we can help out with a number of items, a juice maker, food processor, steam cleaners, bread toasters etc. I will bring this list to our next committee meeting and we will see what we can do. As stated previously, we will use any monies remaining from the kind donations those of you made in our "Sponsor a child for £12" project.
If anyone would like to help us with this, our Paypal account is still open at PayPal.co.uk where you can gift a donation to threecscharity@hotmail.com or drop a cash donation or New Clothes (please) into our shop at the Eyna hotel each Monday or Friday between 11.00 and 14.00
No pictures unfortunately for this project, I'm sure you understand. I'm sure we will offer continuing support to the love homes but our involvement from now on will remain largely in the background as we leave these children to get on with a normal, happy and secure family life.
