Construction worker delivers 30,000 books to village children in four years

HATAY – Anadolu Agency

A construction worker in the southeastern province of Kahramanmaraş, who established the Book and Child Association after participating in a book fair, has delivered more than 30,000 books to children in villages across Turkey in four years. 

“My target is to reach 50,000 books by the end of the year,” said 33-year-old Ahmet Yerlikaya. His adventure started four years ago in his hometown, Kahramanmaraş, where he went to a fair and bought some books. 

“I handed out those books to the children of my village. My voluntary movement started then,” added Yerlikaya. 

The first thing he did was to make social media campaigns for book donations. The movement snowballed in a short time, so he decided to form the Book and Child Association. 

“I resigned from the factory I was working. Now I earn money as a construction worker. I spend my free time on social media campaigns,” told Yerlikaya to state-run Anadolu Agency.

“I have been to the provinces of Adana, Adıyaman, Elazığ, Şanlıurfa, Malatya to bring books to village children. I am now in Hatay. I have given books to Turkish and Syrian kids here.”

Yerlikaya handed out 5,000 fiction and science books to children in the Reyhanlı district of the Hatay province. 

Selman Ahmet, a 14-year-old Syrian boy, was happy to meet Yerlikaya. “I am delighted by these books and want to finish as soon as possible,” added Ahmet.