Charity opens children’s home in Turkey’s Bartın

BARTIN – Demirören News Agency

Turkish children’s charity MİKA-DER (The Tiny Hearts Foundation) has opened a housing complex in the Black Sea province of Bartın. The place, built with the contributions of the Bartın Governor’s Office, artists and businesspeople, will accommodate up to 40 boys aged between 13 and 18.

The housing complex was established as per an agreement signed between MİKA-DER and the Bartın Governor’s Office in 2012. The complex has now been handed over to the Family, Labor and Social Sciences Ministry. The place includes an administrative building and four accommodation units.

The opening ceremony of the complex on May 7 was attended by Bartın Governor Sinan Güner, MİKA-DER President Nesrin Ercan and several association members.

Ercan thanked donators of the project during her speech, saying: “Every child has the right to grow up in a loving family. We cannot unfortunately change their pasts, but we can make their todays and tomorrows more livable and offer them a better future.”

“I hope that our children here grow up to be strong individuals who love instead of hate, share instead of being engaged in anger, trust instead of fear, and we gift these 40 children to Turkey’s future,” Ercan said.

Güner also took the floor during the ceremony. “For us, every smile on our children’s faces is a hope of this country. We are in an effort to prepare our children for the future in the best way possible…We need to use every means possible to prepare children in need of protection in the best way possible,” the governor said.

Güner said that MİKA-DER prepares children sheltered in children’s houses for their present and future life by means of education, music, theatre, sports and psychological support.

MİKA-DER is a non-profit organization established to open Children’s Houses, Houses of Affection and Rehabilitation Centers (Children’s Support Centers) affiliated with the General Directorate of Child Services under the Family, Labor and Social Sciences Ministry.

Its mission is to reach all the cities across Turkey.