In cooperation with Üsküdar University, Turkish Red Crescent, Haydi Tut Elimi Association, and the Silent Kindness Platform of Volunteer Ambassadors, the “Sustainable Volunteer Ambassadors” Workshop was organized. The program, also supported by Üsküdar Municipality and Üsküdar District Governorate, was attended by Üsküdar University Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, ÖYEMER Director Halide İncekara, Prof. Dr. Nazif Gürdoğan, as well as Üsküdar University academics and executives from various foundations and NGOs.
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Volunteering is serving the interests of people, not one's own.”
Speaking at the program held in the Üsküdar University Central Campus D Block meeting hall, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out that in systematic societies, the goal is first determined, plans are made, and the system is established. Tarhan stated; “Even if the person who established the system is not there, the system now runs on its own. Here, these and similar projects contribute to forming a systematic society. If a person has a high sense of belonging, their desire to volunteer increases. Volunteering is serving the interests of other people, not one's own.”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, pointing out that loneliness is also a significant danger awaiting the world, stated that this danger is particularly higher in developed countries. Emphasizing that lonely individuals also experience many ailments, Tarhan said, “Early deaths and suicide attempts are more common among lonely people, especially suicide cases at an advanced age are seen more frequently.”
Project Team: Project Coordinator: Asst. Prof. Fatma Turan- Project Academic Advisor: Prof. Dr. İsmail Barış- Project Advisor: Asst. Prof. Nebiye Yaşar- Project Deputy Coordinator: Ayşe Banu Güngenci, Project Administrative Assistant: Ayşegül Şekli, Researcher: Asst. Prof. Melike Boztilki- Project Partner - Co-Financier - Üsküdar University - Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan
Project Stakeholders: Üsküdar Municipality- Üsküdar Mayor Hilmi Türkmen- Üsküdar District Governorate- Üsküdar District Governor Adem Yazıcı- Turkish Red Crescent Üsküdar Branch- Branch President Dr. Mustafa Karadeniz
Prof. Dr. İsmail Barış: “You leave a pleasant echo in the domes where you compete for self”
Prof. Dr. İsmail Barış, Head of the Social Work Department at Üsküdar University Faculty of Health Sciences, speaking about every person being a world, stated; “Have you ever seen people competing to give in any society, including ours? Has there generally been a struggle? No, there hasn't. People will come to take, it's in their nature. Therefore, people fight to take. Everyone fights to take. Some people, and you are in that group, compete to give. Therefore, have no doubt that those who compete to give will leave a pleasant echo in the dome. Every person is a world. We can even go further and say they are a universe. Just as every world has a firmament, you leave a pleasant echo in the domes where you extend your hand, where you compete for self.”
Halide İncekara: “Volunteers will change the fate of humanity”
Halide İncekara, Üsküdar University Rector's Advisor and Director of the Research and Application Center for Specially Talented Children (ÖYEMER), evaluating the process and purpose of the book ‘Volunteering’, stated; “First and foremost, we would like to thank Fatma Hoca and her entire team, as well as the members of Haydi Tut Elimi Association. I felt the desire, which can be discussed, renewed, and sustained today, in the 90s. I took it to heart, picked up a pen and paper. We had experienced a habitat process, increased motivation. So that Civil Society would be more organized and qualified, and at that time, together with our friend Ayşe Pehlivan, we had also organized a program called ‘Civil Society and Organization’. This book emerged from those notes. The reason I read the book is to remind us of sustainability. This book believes that volunteers will change the fate of humanity, bringing it to the peace it deserves and the world it longs for, by fostering reconciliation instead of conflict, sharing instead of consumption, to connect humanity with its heart, and I see the power of volunteers where the power of everything that can be counted and measured ends.”
Prof. Dr. Ersin Nazif Gürdoğan: “Volunteering is gaining great importance in the new world”
Rector's Advisor Prof. Dr. Ersin Nazif Gürdoğan, drawing attention to the fact that the people who will transform the world are volunteers, stated; “There is now a new world. In this new world, volunteering is gaining great importance. People are happy not by necessarily expecting something, but by touching people's hearts, by doing good, by creating beauty. People of the last century looked at what they could get, but today's people ask, what can we give to others? They seek to be the giving hand. People of the last era, those of what we called the 'globe world', always looked at what they could get, always competed to take things. This competition continues throughout the world. Volunteers are people who compete to give, people who compete in beauty, people who compete in goodness, people who compete in truthfulness. You, we, volunteers are the ones who will transform the world.”
3 group workshops were held
After the opening speeches concluded, the program continued with the workshop groups.
In the workshop moderated by Yüksel Nuri Güneş, President of the Istanbul Caucasian Culture Association, the topic of “How can the concept of ‘Volunteering’ be transformed into the concept of ‘Sustainable Volunteering’?” was discussed.
In the 2nd group workshop, moderated by Turan Sayar, President of Amasya Associations Federation, the topic of ‘Are numerically more volunteers or effective and competent volunteers more important?’ was discussed.
The 3rd group workshop, which also addressed the topic of ‘What should be the methods for motivating volunteers?’, was moderated by Asst. Prof. Melike Boztilki from the Social Work Department of Health Sciences University.
The event concluded after a group photo session.
Photo: Kaan Güzeltepe