Last Tuesday morning we took a 3 ½ hour flight to Ankara, Turkiye. Turkiye is one of the nine countries we have responsibility for. Elder and Sister Huber (the couple we are replacing) met us at the airport in Ankara and we were introduced to our Turkish interpreter Meric Fiserk. On Wednesday we hit the ground running. Elder Huber runs a tight schedule- they are Swiss, and he is teased for his organization, work ethic, and checking his Swiss watch often. I love it (Debbie Speaking) since it’s usually me who is trying to keep everyone on schedule. The purpose of this trip was for the Huber’s to introduce us to the important contacts they have made during the last two years. They return home on September 10, so we are trying to learn everything we can from them before they go!
Day one focused on appointments with government leaders.
First stop: Ministry of the Interior- AFAD, the Turkish government’s Disaster & Emergency Management Authority. Davide Lotito from Milan, Italy joined us. He is the welfare & self-reliance manager for Turkiye, the Balkans, East Asia & Italy.
Burhan Aslan was our host as we saw how closely earthquakes are monitored in Turkiye. We visited the emergency command center where the whole world is monitored for disasters. It is an impressive facility.
FYI- On Feb 6, 2023, at 4:17am a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern and central Turkiye. 100 sq km were affected, causing 60,000+ deaths, and 107,204 people injured, with 4 million buildings affected. The Hubers have been consumed with humanitarian projects there for the last year and a half.
Next, we met with Dr Omur Fatih Karakullukcu- advisor to the President- Ministry of Education. Hubers worked with him to coordinate the building of schools after the earthquake. He says he has used our church as an example of how to do effective humanitarian work.
On to the Ministry of Education where we met with Ozer Dumanli- the director of construction and real estate. These relationships and connections are invaluable as we continue to do humanitarian work in Turkiye.
Last stop of the day- a meeting with Dr Aziz Alper Biten- Ministry of Health- General director of Foreign Affairs.
On Thursday our focus was on businesses Hubers have worked with in humanitarian projects. First stop: Turmaks, a company that, among other things, builds mobile hospitals for organizations all over the world. Our church donated five mobile hospitals last year right after the earthquake. Here we met Ali Kemaloglu, doctor of nuclear medicine turned businessman, founder of Turmaks. Elder Lamb really enjoyed this factory tour!
On to another factory tour at Waterbox. Vice president Omer Yogurtcuoglu walked us through the manufacturing and assembly process of reverse osmosis filters. Our church donated and Waterbox technicians installed 25,450 filters in seven different container camps benefiting 114,500 earthquake victims.
We had a special treat that evening. We were invited to the home of the Yazici family for a traditional Turkish meal. We traveled for an hour outside the city to their country home and were treated to a feast! Platters of fresh tomatoes, onions & cucumbers, potato cakes, stuffed peppers, eggplant salsa, roasted tomatoes & peppers, barbequed chicken, lamb & beef, and flat bread served with a salty yogurt drink called ayran. After dinner came a bowl of plain homemade yogurt that was delicious.
We went for a walk around the property and then dessert was served: nuts, sunflower seeds, baclava, grapes, plums, a candy made from concentrated grape juice & walnuts. We will treasure this memory of being able to meet this warm, loving family and partake in this fabulous meal together.
Friday August 30th was a national holiday- Victory Day. It is the commemoration of the decisive victory at the Battle of Dumiupinar in 1922 marking their independence from Greek rule. The following year the Republic of Turkey was formed. Flags were flying all over Ankara.
Holiday or not, two companies gave up their day off and agreed to meet with us. First stop: FZA- the company that built two of the three schools our church financed. Ali Mehmet Yazici (whose family we had dinner with last night) presented us with models of the school and showed us a power point of the construction process. On each visit delicious refreshments are served. The almond butter tarts were our favorite. This is not going to be good for our waistlines!
Next visit was with Zuhal Dogan, owner and manager of Anexis. She coordinated the shipment of 500,000 emergency boxes that our church shipped to earthquake victims. It was interesting to hear the memories she & Hubers shared. Zuhal had just met with Hubers in her office to finalize package contents. The next day she got a call from a city in the earthquake zone that a couple was there checking the contents of each box as it arrived on the truck. She wondered how the Hubers had traveled to the affected area so quickly. Her heart felt satisfied because she had checked each box as it left the facility in Ankara that morning. She knew she was working with diligent people. Then Hubers shared, “She put a woman’s touch on each box. She insisted on quality products not the cheap items victims had been receiving from other organizations. She only included what she would use herself. She insisted the victim’s dignity and hope be preserved.”
We had dinner with Ali Kemaloglu (mobile hospital contact) and his family. We feel like all we have done since we arrived in Turkiye is eat! The Sister missionaries joined us for dinner- Sister Gross from Knoxville, Tennessee and Sister Krum from Reno, Nevada. They live in Frankfurt and come to Turkiye once a month for the weekend (Friday-Monday) There are 23 young missionaries that rotate through five different cities in Turkiye to support members and follow up with friends they are teaching online.
On Saturday Ali Kemaloglu took us to do some sightseeing. We walked through an old part of town and saw the ruins of the Temple of Agustus- A Roman temple built between 27BC-14AD. Today it sits next to a mosque. We didn’t make it to the castle on the hill because it started raining. Ed had a challenge trying to grab his ice cream cone- each time he put out his hand, the ice cream man spun the cone out of his reach. He enjoyed his doner.
On Sunday we attended church at the Ankara branch. Ankara was called Galatia in New Testament times. Amazing to think of the history here! Today there are seven branches of our church in Turkiye with a total of about 300 members.
That afternoon we began a four-hour road trip to Adana. It was cool to be driving along and see a turn off sign for Tarsus- incredible to be in Saul/Paul territory!
On Monday morning we headed south into the earthquake affected zone. Aaron Clinger, a former US Marine now working for the state department who serves as the local branch president, joined us. It was a 12-hour jammed packed day! The further south we drove, the greener it got. Farmers grow three crops year-round here. The oleanders along the highway reminded us of the drive between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. It was a beautiful drive with green mountains on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on the other. We made several stops:
Mobile clinic in Erzin that our church donated 18 months ago. Not too many homes here were destroyed during the earthquake, but the hospital had to be evacuated. Even though the local hospital has been rebuilt the mobile clinic is still in use. Clinicians see 600 patients a day here.
High School construction in Serinyol. 12 classrooms. Goal is to finish by end of September
Mobile Hospital in Yayladagi, two km from the Syrian border. This was the first mobile hospital the church donated 18 months ago. There was not much damage from the earthquake in this area but many who lost their homes relocated here. It originally served as a field hospital and is now an OR suite on Tuesdays and Thursdays plus used for labor & delivery. Many Syrian women come across the border to deliver their babies.
LDS Container Camp in Antakya. 230,000 people are currently living in containers in the Hatay region since they lost their homes in the earthquake. That’s 90% of the population. Four to seven people live in these small living spaces. 434 families are so grateful for the well-built containers that include AC, heat & a water filter.
Meeting for possible new project with vice mayor of Iskenderun
Castle ruins as we followed the Silk Road.
Dinner at Kaburgaci Yasar Usta. Ground lamb is molded around a LARGE metal skewer. After it is cooked, it is brought to the table in a flourish and laid in the middle of the table on top of pita. It takes three men and some effort to slide the meat off the skewer. It is eaten with many accoutrements with pita bread.
We made the three-hour drive to the affected zone again on Tuesday.
A school that is being built in Asagioba. This site was chosen so neighborhood children will be able to walk to school. This school has 12 classrooms. Children ages 5-15 will attend. There will be 24-30 students per class. 1000 children will go to school here with half coming for the morning session, half in the afternoon.
Fig trees & corn surrounded the school
Another school in Uzumdali on a windy hill. The ministry of Education needs to rebuild 1,500 schools that were damaged or destroyed during the earthquake. There are two container camps nearby, one Syrian, one Turkish. The children from these camps will attend school here.
Lunch at Tarbus- another theatrical kabob experience. This time the kabob meat was wrapped in a thin pita and hot butter was poured over it. Divine! This region of Turkey is known for their kabobs.
Mobile Clinic in Altinozu- Ten years ago this site was used for a Syrian refugee camp. After the earthquake last year, it became the site for this mobile hospital. It was desperately needed when the population of this city went from 60,000 to 250,000 because of earthquake victims fleeing their demolished homes. This clinic sees 1,000 patients each day plus 450 in the ER. They do 20 minor surgeries each week. When a new permanent hospital opens next month, this mobile hospital will be packed up and saved for another emergency or used along the border for refugees.
We ended our trip to Turkey with a visit to St Peters Church in Antakya. Antakya is the ancient Antioch. In the 11th century this cave became a three-nave church. It is said that Peter and Paul preached here. We know from the New Testament that it was in Antioch that disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26) and that Paul began his second mission from this city with Silas, Barnabas and Judas Barsabas (Acts 15:22)
Turkish Treasures:
The traditional Turkish greeting consists of touching left sides of the forehead and then right sides.
The saying “insallah” has already become second nature. It means “if Allah wills it” or “God willing” or “hopefully” and is used often. For instance, we wished a high school student success as he begins his school year and that was his reply. When we leave someone and say we will meet again, or say we hope to work with them in a humanitarian project, they use this expression.
The Muslim call to prayer is heard five times a day. Mosques are found throughout the city.
Blue almonds from Mardin are exquisite.
Taxi buttons found all over the city make finding a taxi no trouble at all,
In busy intersections in Ankara there are no traffic lights. Instead, traffic moving forward goes through an underground tunnel, while those who want to turn right or left stay in the street level lane to the right. Great way to solve congestion issues.
As they say in Turkiye, Seni seviyoruz! Iyi gunler dilerim.
With love, Elder & Sister Lamb (aka Ed & Debbie, Mom & Dad, Pop Pop & Tu Tu)
Lambs in Central Europe 