The children’s voices echoing from among the containers bring life in its most vibrant form to this space. In these small spaces, children are not just playing; they are getting used to one another again and re-engaging with life. While sharing a toy or a smile, they are experiencing the unique rush of being a child. As they run around with joy, that joy spreads to all those around them.
One of these children is Ramazan. At first, he found it difficult to express himself around others, but now he says that he can communicate much more easily with people thanks to the sessions he has attended. “Before, I was a bit shy, but now I can communicate more easily with both my friends and my teachers”, he says.
What Ramazan likes to do most is drawing. With every colored pencil he picks up, he rebuilds his own world. A bright sun placed in the corner of the page, colorful houses drawn beside it, and a wide-open sky… “When drawing, I draw the world the way I feel it in my heart”, he says.
Ramazan’s mother, Emine, is 35 years old and has three children. She’s a strong woman trying to rebuild her life with her children despite having lost her mother, father, and sibling in the earthquake. Emine hanım, who took full responsibility on her own after separating from her husband, sustains her life through the pension left by her father, and has never lost hope of building a better future for her children. Despite all hardships, she carries within her the strength of starting over each new day with her children.
Emine hanım explains that she noticed a change both in herself and in her children after coming across the project. She says that her children are now calmer, more sharing, and more understanding toward one another. “I used to feel very lonely. Now I know that I’m not alone”, she says. She notes that the positive parenting sessions, mother-baby activities, and the gatherings organized as part of 8 March International Women’s Day have also had a positive impact on her.
The project’s field workers are closely monitoring this change in the children. They remember how quiet Ramazan was in the beginning. They explain that over time, this silence has been replaced by connections with his friends and a more confident sense of curiosity. They say that he is no longer just a child who engages in play, but one who also creates play, shares, and expresses himself more comfortably. They add that this change is also reflected in his daily interactions.
“When school ends, a different kind of excitement begins for me”
“I love my school and my friends,” says Ramazan. “But when school ends, a different kind of excitement begins for me.” Because one of his favorite times of the day is when he joins the activities at the container city.
During these activities organized as part of the project, children learn about stress and anger management, coping strategies, peer bullying, privacy, and recognizing their emotions. But they experience these not in the form of lessons, but through play.
“I’m not the only one whose happy here, all my friends are very happy as well”, says Ramazan. The sparkle in his eyes describes his joy more quickly than his words. “We learn while we play together”, he says.
Actually, what Ramazan feels goes far beyond the words pouring from his lips. He has captured this vast world he carries within him on a piece of paper. He holds his carefully drawn, colorful picture featuring the logos of MAV and ASAM. Inside the colorful hearts he drew around them, he has excitedly written the names of ASAM team members within the project who treat him with love and kindness every day. The tiny note written at the very bottom is the purest confession in his heart: “I love you.”
His picture is not just a drawing; it’s a quiet reflection of the unshakable trust he has started to feel again, the invisible bonds he has formed, and the warm feeling in his soul.
And perhaps the moment that best captures Ramazan’s story comes when we ask him, “If you could summarize this place in three words, what would you say?”
th a huge smile, he says the three words that come from deep within his heart:
“Love, respect, and happiness”
The drawing he showed us with great enthusiasm actually proves that it is the simplest and most beautiful expression of these three words.