Philanthropist spends lifetime fortune educating children

Nuran Çakmakçı – ISTANBUL

An 89-year-old retired nurse has devoted all her life to children’s education, spending all the money she earned in six decades for the construction of schools and kindergartens across the country.

“I could not go to school as my parents did not allow it. All children should, especially the girls,” İfakat Yavuz told daily Hürriyet on Jan. 1 while talking about her efforts.

Yavuz was born to a family of seven siblings in the Gökçe village in the northern province of Trabzon’s Vakfıkebir district on Dec. 15, 1933.

When she was a little girl, she witnessed the construction of a primary school in her village. “I carried bags of sand to the construction site, dreaming I would get education in that school after once its construction was over,” she said.

But her dream did not come true. Yavuz’s parents did not allow her to go to school as “she was a girl.”

“I never had a pencil or an eraser in my childhood. I felt regretful for this all my life,” she added.

Her life changed when she was hospitalized for three months at the age of 16 for rheumatism. She wanted to serve people like “nurses in that hospital.”

Learning how to read and write by herself, she started corresponding with her cousin who was a nurse in Istanbul, asking more about the profession.

Her new life began when she came to Istanbul to meet her cousin at the age of 19.

After graduating from the out-of-school education, she became a nurse at the Samatya State Hospital. In her 60 years of profession, she saved money for the education of children.

She spent all her money on the construction of schools and kindergartens across the country. Donating money to charities, she recently gave the last piece of her wealth to Darüşşafaka, a Turkish educational association founded to train apprentices.

“I was raised with a mentality of ‘boys can go to school, girls can’t.’ I could hardly get any education. That’s why I gave all my money to educate children; no matter if it is boy or girl,” she noted.