Üsküdar Üniversitesi Career Days, organized by the Career Center Directorate, continued with the industry meetings of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. The guests of the program were Buket Öder, KAÇUV Field Operations Coordinator, and Selda Yıldız, KAÇUV Volunteer Coordinator. Selda Yıldız, stating that the number of physicians working on cancer treatment and child cancer in Turkey is low, said, “There are 200 doctors working on child cancer in public and state hospitals across Turkey. The absence of doctors in this field in every city causes families to migrate for health reasons to provinces like Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir.”
“Cancer is a challenging but treatable disease”
Buket Öder, providing information about the Hope Foundation for Children with Cancer (KAÇUV), said: “The Hope Foundation for Children with Cancer was established in 2000. At that time, it was founded by individuals whose children were receiving treatment and by physicians. It has a very valuable board of directors team. They are familiar with both the process they went through and the follow-up of this process. That’s why considering the child, mother, and physician aspects in everything we do makes our work easier. When we carry out our activities and work in hospitals, we focus on the child. We strive to be facilitating and supportive psychologically and medically. All our efforts are carried out within this scope. It is one of our greatest desires for the child to benefit from treatment opportunities in a child-friendly way and then to continue their life completely healthy. We say that cancer is challenging but promising. We explain that it is a treatable disease.”
“The essence of the matter is experiencing it”
Öder, stating that “Everyone should experience volunteering,” said: “We have various types of volunteering. Meeting with children is just one of them. Not all of our staff work directly with children with cancer just because we work with them. We have colleagues working in accounting, our communication coordinator, our resource development coordinator, and those working in departments related to donations. We work together from many different branches, and the team that meets with children is just one of them. We also have colleagues from different units in the activities we carry out in family homes. Students have many things they can do, both professionally and as volunteers. The essence of the matter is experiencing it. You cannot know this without volunteering. Civil society does not have a school, so the field itself is where you can develop yourself. It is important to start where your heart is. If you want to build your career in this area, you must volunteer. You must experience volunteering somewhere. Once you get involved, you'll be hooked. Because it’s an incredibly great joy.”
“There are 200 doctors working on child cancer in Turkey”
Selda Yıldız, talking about their projects, said: “At KAÇUV, we are currently trying to continue our volunteer activities online. In addition to the treatment of children with cancer, we try to carry out projects in many areas of need. These include arranging playrooms for children in hospitals, and bringing a teacher to hospitals in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education during children’s education period. To reduce the workload of doctors a little and increase their motivation, we sometimes have seminars, scholarship support, events with families and children, and activities similar to social service activities based on the needs of families. One of the foundation’s priorities was family homes. The number of physicians working on cancer treatment, specifically child cancer, in Turkey is very low. There are 200 doctors working on child cancer in public and state hospitals across Turkey. The absence of doctors in this field in every city causes families to migrate for health reasons to provinces like Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. Since cancer is a disease that requires a long treatment process, it can exhaust families. Our story begins with us establishing a family home where families who migrate for health reasons and lack resources can stay when they arrive.”
“One needs to understand what a child feels”
Yıldız, stating that empathy must be established to understand people’s feelings, said: “Empathy means being able to put on someone else's shoes and feel their comfort. For example, how comfortable can a pair of shoes I’ve worn for two years, which have taken the shape of my feet, make your feet? We can think of empathy entirely in this way. We will never be able to feel what a child with cancer is going through or what their family feels, but empathy is the energy in society to accept this and try to understand them. Empathy means ‘I want to put on those shoes and observe what they feel.’ It is very valuable and an important part of society. Awareness is not just hair loss. There should be areas working on the awareness of many things. Therefore, one needs to perceive and want to. One needs to understand what a person feels, what a child feels.”