You can support us through cryptocurrency donations.

You can now support the Young Lives Foundation through cryptocurrency donations with Paribu.

In the disaster areas, children, adolescents and women are in need of basic supplies as well as psychological assistance.

If you would like to support the work we are doing in Hatay and Adıyaman, please click the link below, select Genç Hayat Vakfı (Young Lives Foundation) and choose a cryptocurrency for your donation.

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Young Life Foundation cryptocurrency donation information

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Earthquake in Türkiye

EARTHQUAKE IN TÜRKİYE

EMERGENCY EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE REPORT

Part I: What happened

Part II: How we responded

Part III: What are we going to the next

Young Lives Foundation In The Affected Area

WHAT ARE WE DOING IN EARTHQUAKE ZONES?

We have been in disaster areas with our team of professionals since the first day. We have delivered basic food and supplies to those in need in Hatay and Adıyaman. We continue to increase the scope of our work on the ground. Our Earthquake Emergency Response Report, which includes the latest situation in disaster areas, our work and our recommendations, is available here.

6th of February

➜ We began by calling children and families, especially our scholarship recipients in the earthquake regions.

➜ In the afternoon, our team set off for the Hatay disaster area.
6th of February
7th February

➜ We reached Hatay.

➜ We bought food and hygiene products for 2000 people and carried them to a warehouse.

➜ We packaged the aid and set out to deliver it, distributing in different locations such as Antakya Center, Samandağ, Defne, Çekmece, Payas.

➜ In addition, we supported and guided the teams distributing basic needs, starting with emergency calls from our team in Diyarbakır.
7th February
8th of February

➜ We bought 8 generators to draw water from the water wells.

➜ We bought the necessary equipment for cooking in a mobile kitchen and we will provide meals for 2000 people.

➜ We have provided the necessary materials for bread making and procured a dough mixing machine.

➜ We regularly identify needs and make health referrals.

➜ We started working at the Disaster Coordination Center.

➜ We continue to work together with the Disaster Platform.

➜ We also established a team in Adıyaman, including our colleagues who are in the region, and started identifying where we can target our operations.
8th of February
9th of February

➜ In addition to giving support in terms of hygiene and food, we started to distribute blankets.

➜ We distributed 2000 loaves of bread.

➜ A delivery of 100,000 socks, scarves and 750 blankets were prepared in Istanbul.

➜ We took part in evacuating people in the region.

➜ Our second team is on its way to Hatay.

9th of February
10th of February

➜ We focused on rural areas of Hatay.

➜ Bread distribution continues

➜ We are expanding our working areas with our new teams.

➜ We continue to identify new areas where we can help.

10th of February
11th of February

➜ With the coordination of aid from abroad, we ensured that 2 construction machines came to the area.

➜ Our goal is to distribute 5000 loaves of bread today.

➜ Underwear, sweaters, socks and coats for men and women have been packed for distribution tomorrow.

➜ Our volunteer team was established to confirm the needs requests.

➜ We started the classification and delivery of aids in Adıyaman under the coordination of AFAD.

11th of February
12th of February

➜ Stoves came in cooperation with Balsu; It is delivered to families with hazelnut shells.

➜ With our coordination, the cranes from Vienna landed on the site.

➜ Our distribution of clothes, food and hygiene kits continues for men and women that we have classified.

➜ We reached our goal, we distributed 5000 loaves of bread.

➜ We will continue to deliver aid with 4x4 vehicles to be delivered by our supporters.

➜ With the support of our volunteers, our team is growing; Our number is increasing in the field, and we are establishing a team that works on listing and classifying needs.

12th of February
13th of February

➜ Our assistance to those in need continues to be organizedy; In addition to our food, hygiene and heating support, we also started to deliver bed.

➜ 15,000 underwear for children are on their way to Hatay.

➜ In order to confirm the incoming needs, our volunteer team started their search in our office in Istanbul.

➜ We are also moving to a new warehouse in Adıyaman and we continue to deliver aid to those in need.

➜ We provided fuel support as well as search and rescue containment construction equipment.
13th of February
14th of February

➜ We deliver the needs one-on-one with our detection, monitoring and mapping activities.

➜ Our distribution of stove and firewood nut shells continues.
➜ Mattress distributions continue.

➜ Our 8 generators are on their way to Hatay.

➜ Our warehouse container is on its way to Hatay.

➜ Our hygiene and maintenance kits are on their way.(Children's and adult diapers, mask, disinfectant, bleach, wet wipes, children's diaper rash cream).

➜ Our collaborations with international organizations, non-governmental organizations, local governments and platforms continue in Adıyaman and Hatay.

14th of February
15th of February

➜ Our 8 generators have reached our warehouse.

➜ Our hygiene and care kits (children's and adult diapers, masks, disinfectants, bleach, wet wipes, children's diaper rash cream) have arrived at our warehouse.

➜ Distribution of children's underwear, which is one of the most urgent needs, has started.

15th of February
16th of February

➜ We distribute boots and coats for children.

➜ Needs are met through identification-monitoring-mapping.

16th of February
17th of February

➜ We started to identify the needs of children and women.

17th of February
18th of February

➜ Food, water, hygiene, clothes, heaters, blankets, tents, stoves and fuel distributions continue.

➜ Need assessment studies continue.

18th of February
19th of February
➜ Within the scope of our project on the prevention of child labor in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MoLSS) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), hygiene kit support was received from project resources for the needs in the disaster area, and distributions started.
19th of February
20-26th of February

➜ We are working on infrastructure to meet the toilet and water needs of families.

➜ Our water tanks of 10 tons each for two tent cities have arrived in Hatay. After their installation, we are starting to meet the need for clean water.

➜ The installation of our water tanks has been completed. We will start providing clean water to the families in the tent cities.

➜ The kitchen provided by Istanbul Hazelnut and Products Exporters' Association has been installed in Narlıca tent city area with a capacity to serve 3000 people.

➜ A total of 30 mobile toilets with a capacity of 60 people, provided by the Ministry of Labor and the International Labor Organization (ILO), have started to arrive in the region. In two different areas, 18 mobile toilets with a total capacity of 36 people have been installed for 1,600 people, while 12 mobile toilets with a total capacity of 24 people are in the process of being installed.

20-26th of February
27 of February - 5th of March

➜ In Adıyaman, we are carrying out revitalizing activities, relaxation and balancing exercises, expressive artistic activities to support the psychological well-being of children and youth.

➜ Our psychologists and counselors from Istanbul provided supervision support to our teams who are constantly in the field in both regions.

➜ Our teams in Adıyaman received "Helping Those Who Help" trainings.

➜ In Adıyaman, training was provided to strengthen the stress coping mechanisms of public officials affected by the earthquake and in contact with children.

➜ Breakfast was organized for the first time in Hatay.

➜ Chess, Karagöz and Hacivat show and psychological well-being promotion activities were organized with the teams from Adıyaman Provincial Directorate of Family and Social Services, Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism and Ankara Chess Association.

➜ Activities were organized with children in SAMKON Container area.

➜ In cooperation with Adıyaman Provincial Directorate of Family and Social Services and Adıyaman Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, we supported children's psychological well-being through science with students from METU University.

➜ Thanks to the mobile kitchen, hot meals continue to be distributed.

➜ Our water tank was established in Hatay.

27 of February - 5th of March
6-12th of March

➜ Our needs assessment studies continue.

➜ We installed a WC in Bozdoğan Temporary Shelter Area of Aydın Governorship, our 4th region in Hatay..

➜ Supervision support was provided to our field teams in Hatay..

➜ Our volunteer team, which we established to confirm the incoming need requests and direct them to our teams in the field, is growing.

6-12th of March
13-19th of March

➜ Our needs assessment activities continue.

➜ In order to support the psychological well-being of children and young people, we carry out warm-up activities, relaxation and balancing exercises, expressive artistic activities.

➜ Children made cars, flowers, geometric shapes, rings, bracelets with plastic kits. We also practiced robotic coding.

13-19th of March
20-26th of March

➜ We worked with children in Adıyaman on robotic coding and freestyle work with 3D pens.

➜ With our Mobile Psychosocial Support (PSS) vehicle in Adıyaman, we also go to villages far from the city center and support children's well-being.

20-26th of March
27th of March - 2nd of April

➜ We continue our Psychological Wellbeing Support for children in Hatay in partnership with the Ministry of Family and Social Services.

➜With the support of Turkish Philanthropy Funds, we started our visits to public institutions for our project for women and children who settled in Izmir from disaster areas.

➜We participated in UN Coordination and sector meetings.

27th of March - 2nd of April

Stories From Summer Workshops

STORIES FROM SUMMER WORKSHOPS 

Play Video

 

Dicle, 10, Sakarya

Play Video

 

Yiğit, 11, Sakarya

Question: If you were an animal and could talk to other animals, which animal would you like to be and what would you like to ask other animals?

Answer: “I want to be a bird, I want to fly freely; I would ask other animals, ‘What do you think it’s like to fly?”

Mısra, 14, Sakarya,

Innovative Thinking Workshop

Question: What does hope look like? What will the color be? Why?

Answer: Hope looks like a mother and smells like a mother. Its color would also be white because “mother” means hope.

Zeynep, 14, Sakarya,

Innovative Thinking Workshop

Take a Step for Education with Genç Hayat Foundation and HelpSteps!

Let Your Steps Turn into Education!

Help Steps is a health application that automatically records your daily steps and allows you to convert them into HS (Help Steps) steps at the end of the day and donate them. So you can donate for education of children just by walking.

How Do I Get Started Using Help Steps?

You can start using the application for free by downloading it from the App Store or Google Play.

You can register for the application by entering your name, surname, e-mail and telephone information.

If a friend sent you an invite, entering the invite code when signing up will earn your friend 50,000 steps. However, you can download and use the application without an invitation code.

What are HS Steps?

You need to convert your steps into HS steps with the convert button on the application.

After clicking the Convert button, you watch the advertisement to the end and convert your automatically saved steps into HS steps that you will use to donate or spend. You must do this every day until 12 at night. So you can repeat this process frequently during the day.

You can remind it by allowing it to send you notifications while using the application. In addition, the application continues to record your steps even when your internet is turned off.

How Can I Donate to the Young Lives (Genc Hayat) Foundation with Help Steps?

You can donate as many HS steps as you want by choosing the Young Lives (Genc Hayat) Foundation from the “Groups I Love” section of your application. You can also follow the foundation to get it to the top. The TL equivalent of the donations made will be calculated and transferred to the foundation via bank.

If you cannot find the Young Lives (Genc Hayat) Foundation in the “Groups I Love” section, you can easily access it from the view all option.

After you click on the Send Steps option, enter the number of steps you want to donate on the page that will appear, and your transaction will be successful.

After donating your steps, you can support the Young Lives (Genc Hayat) Foundation to receive more donations by sharing your donation via social media accounts with the share button.

Invite Your Friends to Earn 50,000 Steps!

You can get more people to donate by sending the Help Steps app to your friends and inviting them to use it too. When your friends start using the application with the invitation code you sent, you will earn 50,000 steps. It is also possible to transfer your steps to your friends. You can also add your friends using the application to your friends list within the application.

We wish you nice walks and happy steps that you can support the children.

“Worker and Child Rights in Seasonal Agriculture” Leaflets are Published!

"Worker and Child Rights in Seasonal Agriculture" Brochures are Published!

As part of our “The Last Stop for Child Labour: Eskişehir!” project where we focus on families and individuals under temporary protection who immigrated to Eskişehir; we continue to meet with children in the seasonal agricultural cycle and their families. Raising awareness of families is one of the primary steps to ensure that children are not working  in conditions that hinder their physical and mental development; and that they can continue their education. 

You can browse our brochures of the awareness raising activities we carried out for more information on topics such as: Who is the child; what is child labor; what does the convention on the rights of the child cover?; How is occupational health and safety ensured? What rights do migrant seasonal agricultural workers have?

Worker and Child Rights in Seasonal Agriculture

(Language: Arabic)

Click to Read

“Last Stop for Child Labour: Eskişehir!” Project Hygiene Booklets are Published!

Not having suitable shelter and nutrition opportunities, insufficient hygiene conditions, lack of access to clean water and lack of information in seasonal agriculture cause an increase in the risk of diseases. We are working to improve the living conditions of Syrian refugee and Turkish seasonal agricultural worker families, by helping them access to necessary hygiene conditions in tent areas, trainings on women’s health, and providing booklets in Arabic/Turkish.

The Importance of Basic Hygiene: Basic Hygiene Tips for Seasonal Agricultural Workers

Click to Read (Language: Arabic)

Important Points in Women's Health

Click to Read (Language: Arabic)

Elsalih Family Video is Published!

"We ask Allah to give them [our children] a good future. We hope Allah won’t show them what we have experienced and seen."

You can watch the story of the Elsalih family, whom we met in our “Last Destination for Child Labor: Eskişehir!” project, in the video below.

Our goal is to make the lives of refugee families a little easier and establish a brighter future where children live safely. Everyone has the right to a lifestyle that respects human dignity, and it is everybody’s responsibility to make it possible. Only in this way can we make a life together possible.

We want to create a better world for millions of displaced people and their children, and we strive to protect their rights and well-being.

Around 80 million people worldwide are displaced. Turkey remains the country hosting the highest number of refugees. According to March 2021 data, more than 3.6 million Syrian nationals and nearly 320,000 international protection status refugees and asylum seekers (including refugees from other nationalities) live in Turkey. The Elsalih family is only one of these families who had to flee from their home due to war and turmoil and took refuge in Turkey.

 
* “The Last Destination for Child Labor: Eskişehir!” The project is supported by the Local Initiative Fund in Turkey (LIFT) within the scope of the “The Community Centers and Local Initiatives Project (CLIP)”, which is co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).

Young people say “I will not stop being myself, you stop the bullying!” #ZorbalığıBırak

#ZorbalığıBırak (Stop Bullying) campaign, carried out by Genç Hayat Foundation in cooperation with Facebook started on June 14th!

As part of the #ZorbalığıBırak campaign, the commercials that gives “I won’t stop being myself. You stop the bullying!” message is shown on the Genç Hayat Foundation and Simple’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. In addition, sponsored advertisements are broadcast with the support of Facebook.

Play Video
Play Video

With the aim of raising awareness, the campaign, which will last until July 5th, will include using films, stories, polls and a face filter (AR effect) on social media.

All content will be directed to the web page containing detailed information about cyberbullying, prepared by Genç Hayat Foundation together with clinical psychologists. On this page, teens and parents will have access to guides where they can learn about cyberbullying behaviors and the actions to take if they are the victims of cyberbullying.

The Most Common Type of Bullying in the Digital Age: Cyberbullying

Click to display the web page!
Click to display guidebook for children and teenagers!
Click to display guidebook for parents!

*These contents are in Turkish.

Watch and share to help  Genç Hayat Foundation to reach more children and young people!

Genç Hayat Vakfı Facebook Account

Genç Hayat Vakfı Instagram Account

From Harvest Field to School: The Story of Ali and Zehra

From Harvest Field to School: The Story of Ali and Zehra

Ali and Zehra are just two of the children we have met during our “Last Stop for Child Labor: Eskişehir!” project. Ali and Zehra, who had to leave their homes and come to Turkey with their families due to the war conditions in Syria in 2017, found themselves living with the realities of seasonal migratory agriculture, just as the thousands of other children living under the same conditions.

Ali and Zehra’s parents are aware of how important it is for their children to receive education at school. However, they said that they have to make a living and the seasonal agriculture already only allows them to work at certain times of the year. Therefore, they regretfully said that they needed Ali and Zehra to help them with the work in the field. The family, who first stayed at Bursa and Antalya as seasonal agriculture workers, are currently working at Eskişehir and wish to permanently stay there because they believe that settling is better than having a tent life. Besides, building a settled life is critical for their children to complete their education lives.

Before crossing paths with our project team;
13-year-old Ali, the oldest child of the house, was working at the tomato field with his parents every day for 11-12 hours. Therefore, he couldn’t continue the education he previously started under these conditions. 11-year-old Zehra, who has never attended school before in her life, was working at the field too. When she was at home, she would take the full responsibility of the house, such as cleaning, washing the clothes and folding and taking care of her siblings.

Ali took an equivalency test, an exam that enables students to continue their education at the accurate level, after the break he had to take due to their migration from Antalya to Eskişehir. With the support of our team, he succesfully passed the exam. He is now enrolled in school and he will start his education from the 8th grade.

Zehra will start her education from the 4th grade. She will proceed with an adaptation class because her Turkish is not sufficient. Moreover, our team provides technical support about EBA TV so that they can follow their classes during the distance education times. Ali and Zehra are now following their online lectures with the support they received, which helps them to improve their Turkish too.

In our project, which lies under the roof of LIFT, our field team gives priority to the family’s school-age children to continue their education wholly and efficiently. The attendance of children to the classes, their school performances, whether they go to the field or not, are all monitored with simultaneous communication conducted with their families and teachers. Meanwhile, the families under temporary protection status in Turkey with children who are unable to attend school, are provided with conditional education assistance.

Ali, who wants to be a doctor in the future, is now very happy that he will go to school instead of the field. Zehra, who wants to be a teacher when she grows up, is extremely excited that she will go to school for the first time. Our “Last Stop for Child Labor: Eskişehir!” project continues so that Ali, Zehra and the hundreds of other children we met and supported, can break the cycle of seasonal agriculture and start a new life where they can get education and realize their dreams.

* “Last Stop for Child Labor: Eskişehir!” project, which is co-funded by “The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)” and “European Civil Projection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO),” is supported by “Local Initiative Fund in Turkey (LIFT)” under the “Community Centres and Local Initiatives Project (CLIP).”