People from Burkina Faso’s Transalya village reciprocated to the aid activities performed by Turkish philanthropists. The locals of the village didn’t forget the philanthropists who came from various countries of the world and provided help to them in various ways, and changed the name of their village to “Türkiye” to show their loyalty. Locals also planted a 10 meter tall pole at the entrance of their village and flew a large Turkish flag.
This year, 250 philanthropists from 8 different countries, led by
Kimse Yok Mu, flocked to Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries of the world. The philanthropists went to Transalya village, which is close to Malian borders of the country and doesn’t even have a road, and met the villagers there. The philanthropists brought a smile to the faces of the locals, who fight against poverty, in Transalya village, which is 8,000 km away from Turkey and to which drinking water is carried from a well 12 km away.
Hundreds of Kimse Yok Mu volunteers coming from Turkey, Germany, Azerbaijan, Russia, Belgium, Sweden and Central Asia were welcomed by the people of Transalya village with local dances. The organization’s volunteers distributed sweets, chocolate, clothing and sacrificial meat sent by philanthropists to the villagers. There were emotional moments after the distribution of aid. The people of Transalya didn’t forget the philanthropists who have brought meat and various pieces of aid to them during sacrifice festival for 3 years. The villagers changed the name of their village to “Türkiye” in order to show their loyalty against these aid activities. By the decision taken by the regional chief of the villagers, from now on Transalya village will also be called “Türkiye”.
İdrisi Savadoru, the Regional Chief said their objective was to pay duty of loyalty to the philanthropists who came from thousands of kilometers away and introduced meat and sacrifice festival to them. “We neither have money nor anything to offer. But we wanted to show our friendship by changing the name of our village to Türkiye” and added that: “We had had disease, poverty in our village until 3 years ago. Now, we have Turkish philanthropists. We have sacrificial meat which we eat at least once a year. Another name of this village is now “Türkiye”. From now on, everyone will know it like this. God bless the philanthropists who haven’t forgotten us.”
Habip Yıldız, an officer from Kimse Yok Mu, said they were moved to tears by the villagers’ act. Yıldız also stated that this act also showed the significance of the aid provided. Yahya Savadogu, the chief and the oldest person in the village said he was a 100 years old and had regularly eaten sacrificial meat by the courtesy of Turkish people for the last 3 years. Bintü Şahamarin, one of the women in the village said “You did what even our mothers, fathers couldn't do for us”.
At the end of the visit, the people of Türkiye village and the volunteers who brought aid to the region from various countries posed for a photo under the Turkish flag flying at the entrance of the village.
Published on Kimse Yok Mu, 04 November 2012, Sunday
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