LALE CHARITIES
SYRIA – CRISIS OF OUR TIME
FEATURE: KRISTINA DELGADO. PHOTOGRAPHY: ANNETTE FLECK AND COURTESY OF SMALL PROJECTS ISTANBUL
As the war in Syria continues with no end in sight, organisations like Small Projects Istanbul
and KADAV are inspiring hope by investing in migrant women and leading the way towards
rebuilding the lives of refugees in Turkey. Kristina Delgado, IWI Charity Volunteers Coordinator,
reports
T
he media abounds with images of refugees living in
squalid conditions in camps. But the plight of urban
refugees, many of whom have been “stuck” in cities
such as Istanbul for years, is not always so sympathetically
looked upon. Most came here hoping they would return to
their homes soon. But as the months have turned into years,
they now face the challenge of rebuilding their lives in a
different country. This is a particular challenge for women.
As the war in Syria enters its fifth year, the impact of history’s
largest humanitarian crisis is daunting. The United Nations
estimates that more than 11 million people have been
displaced by the conflict, of whom 4 million are now refugees
seeking safety in neighbouring countries like Turkey. To make
matters more critical, an estimated 75% of Turkey’s 2 million
refugees are women and children. As the number of refugees
grows, the crisis becomes more complex and the needs of all
members of the refugee population increasingly change and
differ. Unfortunately, through these evolving circumstances,
the specific needs and plight of Syria’s women is often
forgotten and underestimated.
As the crisis worsens, more focus is placed on men who
actively wage war and less attention is placed on women who
also pay a heavy price for the conflict. Male family members
are often killed, imprisoned or injured, leaving women to
become the sole providers for entire households. As a result,
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most migrant women live in severe poverty with extreme
pressure to provide for their families. Women often singlehandedly carry the burden of their entire family’s security
as they struggle to survive economically in their new host
communities in Turkey.
Additionally, Syrian women live in the margins of society
due to sociocultural divides that leave them voiceless and
powerless. Women who live in critical and impoverished
circumstances are often completely isolated because of
language barriers, leaving them incredibly vulnerable. Most
are unaware of their rights as refugees in Turkey and are
consequently susceptible to violence and exploitation. In the
most impoverished refugee communities, many live under
the constant threat of abuse and are forced carry the burden
alone. Being aware of the specific challenges women face,
Syrian men become increasingly protective and controlling
of the women in their families. Often this means keeping
their daughters and sisters from attending school or seeking
employment and isolating their wives and mothers entirely.
In an effort to remain safe, these measures obstruct any
semblance of community or peer-to-peer support that is
needed to help women heal and rebuild their lives.
Through providing economic opportunities and a sense of
community, charities and social organisations such as Small
Projects Istanbul and KADAV – both are IWI grantee charities
LALE CHARITIES
– are helping to give these women the tools to build their
lives anew. When women are empowered, their families are
empowered and entire communities are strengthened for the
promise of a better tomorrow.
There are currently more Syrian refugees in Istanbul than in
the whole of Europe. With the growing needs of the nearly
350, 000 urban refugees here, a shortage of funds and
resources and a lack of development practitioners, Syrian
women are at great risk of becoming marginalised. While
there is a tremendous desire to help Syrians within the
expatriate and local communities, the gravity of the crisis
requires international and local organisations to go a step
further by providing humanitarian strategies to enhance
Syrians’ sustainability and self-reliance. This means a
systemic move away from providing immediate, emergency
relief, and instead a move toward responses that meet the
long term needs of Syrians in Turkey.
Both KADAV and Small Projects Istanbul are stepping up to
this challenge. These two organisations are working towards
building sustainable programmes to address the gaps in the
refugee response by focusing their efforts on empowering
Syrian women in Istanbul and creating opportunities for
economic recovery, promoting community building, and
importantly, providing integration into Turkish society.
EARNING POWER
Small Projects Istanbul (SPI) has broadened its original
education-related mission in order to remain faithful to the
growing needs of refugee community. SPI’s team quickly
realised that they could not solely focus on education
services when the majority of the women in the community
were left in dire circumstances as the only providers for their
households. Education initiatives must run in tandem with
other forms of living support. If a child’s family does not
have access to the most basic needs of food and shelter
because of poverty, those issues must be addressed along
with education. No aspect of the refugee crisis can function
independently of another.
SPI is now registered as a Turkish non-governmental
organisation that aims to empower women through specific
projects that promote economic security while also helping
students displaced by the Syrian conflict. They provide
access to scholarships and supplemental education in order
to help families succeed in Turkey and beyond. SPI tries to
stop the downward spiral of unemployment and poverty
that a lack of education causes for the Syrian refugees. The
organisation is based in Capa where they have a community
centre called The Olive Tree.
Most members of The Olive Tree community centre are
women whose husbands migrated to Europe alone to try to
safeguard a better future for their families before beginning
the process of a lengthy family reunion. SPI’s communication
manager, Anna Tuscon says: “For many women, it means
they are left on their own with little or no means of income to
support themselves and their families as they don’t have a
right to work in Turkey.”
Opposite page:
A support
group for Syrian
women run by
KADAV
Above and top:
Children play
and learn at
Small Projects
Istanbul
Right: Özgül
Kaptan,
coordinator at
KADAV
Aware of the growing need to help women become self
reliant, SPI began running a craft collective project for women
in Capa that provides training and opportunities for economic
recovery. The project, which began in November 2015, helps
women earn money by learning crafts like weaving, sewing
and jewellery-making. The products are then sold through
local business partners across Istanbul, including Grand
Bazaar jewellers, and proceeds are given directly to the
women.
“For some women, it is the first time in their lives they have
done any kind of work outside of their homes and they are
thriving,” says Tuscon. Income-generating activities not only
help women gain livelihood security, but more importantly,
empower them by giving them the tools they need to gain
a sustainable independence and reclaim dignified lives for
themselves and their children.
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LALE CHARITIES
BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH
WOMEN
In addition to economically empowering women for long-term
benefits, KADAV is pioneering new programs that focus on
building a sense of community to help women become more
independent. Through a partnership with Hayata Destek,
KADAV is leading women’s programmes for a community
centre in Küçuükçekmece (Support to Life). KADAV, or
Women’s Solidarity Foundation, is a Turkish organisation that
aims to create opportunities for gender equality in Turkey and
was established initially to support women after the Marmara
earthquake in 1999. Today, KADAV provides support for
women who experience gender-based violence, have a lack
of employment opportunities and suffer from marginalisation
and discrimination. KADAV supports the gender-based work
of international and national organisations to address the
gaps of intervention in safeguarding women.
“If you put people together, they’re able to solve problems
together and help each other, but people need a place to
come together in order to start this movement.” These
workshops provide the framework for social cohesion by
giving the women a sense of purpose in an active and lowpressure environment.
Due to the threats of exploitation and abuse, Syrian women
live most of their lives in isolation and do not have any
access to peer support. By giving women an opportunity to
participate in a meaningful activity, simultaneously women
enter a safe space where they can receive psychosocial
support from professionals or receive support from their own
community. Ultimately, helping women build social networks
helps them heal, cope with the demands of daily life and
become more resilient. As Özgül Kaptan says: “Progress for
the community starts with women.”
If you are interested in supporting the refugee community in
Istanbul, consider supporting sustainable initiatives that equip
refugees with tools and the skills needed to independently
transform their lives. For more information on the projects
above please visit: www.smallprojectsistanbul.org and
www.kadav-ist.org
Right: Syrian boys play outside in the Küçükçekmece
neighbourhood
Below: Small Projects İstanbul supports Syrian communities
As of December 2015, KADAV has been operating
women’s programmes in the underserved community of
Küçuükçekmece. Its gender-based projects are supplemental
to health and legal services that are offered through other
organisations at the community centre. In addition to
advocacy and awareness projects, KADAV will start cooking
workshops for the women in the community. Through cooking
classes, women are immersed in Turkish language and
culture that not only presents an opportunity for women to
eat and learn about wellness but most importantly provides
a safe and positive environment for social cohesion and
community building.
Cooking workshops are invaluable tools for long-term
integration into Turkish society for Syrian women. Syrian
cuisine is predominantly meat-based, whereas Turkish home
cooking is mostly plant-based. Since meat is expensive
in Turkey, many Syrian women can’t afford to eat the way
they did culturally in their home country. Cooking classes
present an opportunity to educate women about wellness
while bridging cultural and language divides through food.
Women learn about how to prepare vegetable-based Turkish
dishes while also learning about daily food organisation and
distribution. This project also allows the women to be fully
immersed in Turkish language and culture in order to build
a sense of camaraderie with Turkish women in their host
community. It provides a venue and opportunity to better
integrate with Turkish society and move beyond cultural
isolation.
Beyond the immediate benefits of cooking workshops for
Syrian women, this project creates a positive environment
to facilitate a feeling of community and belonging that is
necessary to help women thrive. KADAV’s Özgül Kaptan says:
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LALE CHARITIES
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Small Projects Istanbul is looking for a pro bono Marketing Specialist to help create a marketing and
distribution strategy to sell the women’s crafts and jewellery. SPI seeks a dynamic professional with experience
in product sales and development who will manage its distribution. Please send your CV to volunteers@
smallprojectsistanbul.org.
KADAV is seeking donations to create a nursery for its community centre. Donations
accepted are baby food, diapers and portable baby cribs. Additionally, KADAV is open to
cooking, craft, beauty and wellness workshop ideas to support their current activities. If you have
ideas for a creative workshop and can donate resources to run a small project for the women in
Küçükçekmece please contact [email protected]
Although there are limited opportunities to work directly with refugee relief, there is important work everyone can do
to help ameliorate the Syrian Crisis. Lend your voice to advocate for an end to the Syrian conflict. The recent escalation
of violence in Syria has worsened the terrible suffering endured by Syrians, and stressed the need to urgently find a
political solution to the conflict. The lives claimed by the conflict and the number of people fleeing violence are growing
every day and we must urge world leaders to pursue political solutions to the crisis beyond military intervention. This
includes pushing governments to pursue diplomatic and political means to end the conflict and insisting that Western
governments increase refugee resettlement quotas and streamline resettlement procedures.
To push leaders to seek political solutions for the end of the Syrian Crisis:
www.change.org/p/don-t-let-syria-down
stopwar.org.uk/index.php/petitions
www.avaaz.org/en/solution_for_syria_loc
To urge governments to help resettle refugees in the West:
petitions.moveon.org/sign/syrian-refugee-resettlement-1
petitions.whitehouse.gov
JEWELLERY AGAINST
TERRORISM
Small Projects Istanbul has teamed up with jewellers at
the Grand Bazaar to teach Syrian women how to make
jewellery and sell it on their behalf
N
urhan Gümüşmakaş, the founder of
GrandBazaarJewelers.com, has come up with a
bracelet design which both highlights the plight of
refugees, while helping them to earn a living, but also turns
terrorism on its head. The bracelet design is an Arabic letter
“N”, which is used by ISIS to mark Christians living in the
areas which it currently controls. Nurhan stresses the design
is meant to symbolize all refugees who have been forced to
flee their homes for safety. He designed small discs in 925
silver, a mix of silver and gold, and 18 carat gold on macrame
bracelets. With years of knowledge and experience behind
him, Nurhan optimised the design of the discs to require
minimum man hours thereby reducing his costs in order to
give more support to refugees.
After the cost of materials, all of the money will go to Small
Projects Istanbul, a non­profit charity based in Istanbul and
run by a team of Australians, New Zealanders and Syrians
dedicated to helping refugees regardless of their ethnic and
religious affiliations. The actual weaving of the “N” support
bracelets is being done by refugee women themselves –
many of whom practise varying sects of Islam. It is a truly
multi­cultural, ethnic and religious effort. Nurhan has further
developed this special line with bracelets designed and
manufactured by the refugee women themselves.
In the past year, Nurhan says he has witnessed increasing
numbers of refugees begging on the streets out of necessity.
Most refugees are not given permission to work legally and
educating their children in UN approved Arabic curriculum is
cost­prohibitive. “It’s terrible to see and the first thing I think
of is my family. The current refugees from Syria and Iraq need
help. I’ve watched children here sharing a meal of rice on the
ground in the centre of the city. They aren’t even asking for
money, they are asking for bread.”
GrandBazaarJewelers.com is a jewellery manufacturer
and wholesaler of gold, 925 sterling silver and gemstone
jewellery by master jewellers and artisans in Istanbul. It offers
fine, handcrafted pieces that are chic and timeless. The
organisation is one of the first to sell online.
The refugee bracelets, which are priced at 50TL, are available
for purchase online at www.GrandBazaarJewelers.com
and select retailers in the US, Europe, and Australia. For
wholesale inquiries,
http://www.grandbazaarjewelers.com/Home/
Variants/300/Small-Projects-Istanbul-Donation
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