AÇEV

ACEV, East Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey. October 23th, 2009

ACEV (Mother Child Education Foundation) fights illiteracy in rural Turkey. They are represented in many cities such as Diyarbakir, Adana, Istanbul.

We visit ACEV in Istanbul and Adana, and donate to their literacy programs.

Name	AÇEV (Mother Child Education Foundation)
Aim	To create equal opportunity in education for all individuals
Since	1993
Staff	165 people
People reached	AÇEV has "Trained 6,500 trainers and through them served 550,000 people through long-term, face-to-face education programs aimed at children, families and illiterate women" [source:acev.org]
Contact	http://www.acev.org Büyükdere Cad. Stad Han. No:85 Kat:2 34387 Mecidiyeköy - İstanbul  TURKEY Phone: +90 212 213 42 20 / 213 46 39 Fax: +90 212 213 36 60 e-mail: acev@acev.org
Donation	300 USD

"The Mother Child Education Foundation (AÇEV), founded in 1993, is a Turkish non-governmental organization which has vast research, program development, program implementation and advocacy experience in early childhood and adult education. Through strategic partnerships, AÇEV has been able to reach hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries with its scientifically-based training programs." [source:acev.org]

I support in particular the program that teaches illiterate people how to read and write, because I think it is important for them to have a voice, especially since they are often from a political minority.

So I travel to Diyarbakir by train and ask some people about AÇEV. They do important work here, and show their presence, even though the Diyarbakir office is tiny. Since it is the Turkish national holiday, I can't attend an AÇEV personally here, and I decide to go to Adana to meet my travel schedule.
In Adana, I find a sober office and I talk to a very friendly and supportive lady. They run education programs for the illiterate here. I am shown around and strengthen my intuition that this is a deserving and important cause.

As a low-key individual, I (and you) am able to take an unbiased look at such important ngo's. Unfortunately, a few years ago Turkey had a scandalous visit by a British woman called Sarah Ferguson, who visited ngo's with a hidden camera and presented the footage in a most negative way, suggesting all Turkish ngo's were doing a bad job. This damaged their reputation and decreased much needed donations. Understandingly, ngo's are reluctant to allow journalists to take a look around.

But we can change this, since our goal is not a selling tabloid scoop but being humane. Once we have a clear image of what they do, we write about them and make a donation. Our goal is to attract international attention and make people aware of their important work.

You can do even better. Visit AÇEV here on your trip to Turkey (and don't worry, cultural highlights are plenty on the way to Adana and Diyarbakir):

AÇEV Diyarbakir
Aliemiri 1. Sokak Yilmaz 13. Apt
Kat 3 No 10 Yenisehir / Diyarbakir
0412 2242227


AÇEV Adana
Resetbey Mah. 4. Sokak
Samonjon Ap. Kat 2 No 6 Adana