When her father died of cancer she was in elementary school. She finished school sharing her books with her 6 siblings. When she became one of ÇYDD Snowdrops, first thing she did was to buy her own desk.

13 Years ago she was one of the “Snowdrops”

When her father died of cancer she was in elementary school. She finished school sharing her books with her 6 siblings. When she became one of ÇYDD Snowdrops, first thing she did was to buy her own desk.

When her father died of cancer she was in elementary school. She finished school sharing her books with her 6 siblings. When she became one of ÇYDD Snowdrops, first thing she did was to buy her own desk. She never gave up her dreams when faced with difficulties. She kept the promise she gave to vice president Tayyip Erdoğan 13 years ago and became a teacher. Now she is working to change the destiny of students in Başören village of Şanlıurfa. She had a playground  made for children in the village, started knitting and embroidery lessons in her lodgings to convince parents to send their girls to school, introduced the young ones with drums; Aysel Ösüz says “I believe a country will rise and a child will be saved only through education”. Ösüz will attend the reception at the Presidential Palace held for the Teacher’s Day on Nov 24^th.

Aysel Ösüz was born in Aşağıpülünçe village of Şanlıurfa in 1988. She lost her father to cancer when she was in elementary school. She tried to study on a desk made of cushions and sharing her books with her siblings in a house with 3 rooms. In secondary school she became one of CYDD’s Snowdrops.

When 13 years ago, in a school meeting, vice president Erdoğan asked her what she wanted to become, she answered “I want to be a teacher” and she succeeded. She has become a teacher who is loved by her students and by the village people alike. This is Teacher Aysel’s story:

SHE CLEANS THE WINDOWS, SHE LIGHTS THE STOVE..

After graduating from Celal Bayar University in 2010, Ösüz was appointed to Viranşehir where she stayed for four years. For the past three years she teaches 20 students from first to fourth grade in the single classroom of the Başören village school. She is the school principal, the teacher and the janitor at the same time.

“I always wanted to be a teacher” says Ösüz “I always wanted to work in villages as I believe village children need education. I never wanted to work in a city. When I was appointed to the village school, there were so many drawbacks. Children were not coming to school.”

“First I wanted to know why.” School building itself was not likable. Ösüz worked with the village headman and started by painting the building. She added colorful curtains and tablecloths and drew pictures on the walls to attract children’s attention. Seeing children play with wooden seesaws they built for themselves, she contacted a business man who donated a playground. She contacted a craftsman to build a pergola for children to rest in its shade during recesses. She built an outer wall to increase the security of the 33 year old building.

She planted flowers in flowerbeds she made herself from used rubber tires. In the beginning there was no support from the parents but after having seen her work in the school even on the weekends, they start to cooperate.

SCHOOL DOORS SHOULD OPEN TO A DIFFERENT WORLD

“I dreamed of educating the children in different fields” she says with happiness in her voice” I thought school doors should open to a different world. I started to build on my dream to have village children interested in arts, sports and playing musical instruments. I built a bookcase and filled with books. I found 15 musical instruments like darbuka, drums and melodica. My students now play the drums; I would have been content if they even knew the name of the instruments. During the free activity hour, they go to the place I prepared for them to sing, play, knit and work with plaster and wood.

She teaches four grades at the same time, as first graders write letters, second graders read  life sciences and as she corrects home works of third graders, fourth grades study Turkish.

 SHE WAS  GREATLY INFLUENCED BY TÜRKAN SAYLAN

The educator who wants to chance the destiny of a village, she summarizes the underlying causes of her struggles.

“My father was gone and I missed him a lot. I had to start life early when I lost my father. During this time being a “Snowdrop” gave me strength. I had the chance to see Türkan Saylan in a meeting. She had talked so well. She said through education women would become free and build their self- confidence. She was such a great influence on me.

I too am a village girl and I understand my students well. When I think of what I should do for them, I tell to myself” You are a snowdrop, you should make them happy”. I believed and I worked hard. I became friends with books. I love what I do and do not want to do anything else.

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Beauty multiplies when shared. We distributed the extra aid to 3000 village children. I can see my students are happy; they run to school. I did not accept when they wanted to transfer me to the city. Our president is meeting teachers from all 81 cities. I too was invited. If I have a chance to see him, I will tell him “I kept my promise.I have become a teacher and I am doing my best for my students.” My biggest dream is to see my students to have  professions.

SHE EDUCATES THE GIRLS AND THEIR MOTHERS

She works hard for the right of education for the girls. In order to convince the parents of the girls who stop their education to stay at home, she starts a sewing and embroidery course in her own house. She convinces the families saying “Your girls will also learn sewing and crafts.”

She shows families that school is not only learning math and Turkish but also a place girls are prepared for life. At noon she educates older girls and talks to them about various subjects. From time to time mothers also join these classes. On the weekends, she tries to spend time with the village youth. She plans next to teach oil painting to the girls of the village.

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News: Gülseven ÖZKAN 24.11.2017