Training in Southern Turkey

At the beginning of this March we gave two training courses in Turkey.
It was a special week, which we would like to tell you about.
The organisation Welthungerhilfe had asked us to train two teams of their employees simultaneously in Gaziantep and Mardin. Welthungerhilfe offers psychosocial support (PSS) to children, young people and adults in northwest Syria and southern Turkey, victims of the war in Syria and the earthquake of 6th Februari 2023, killing more than 40,000 people and erasing entire cities.

It was a very diverse and mixed group of people from Turkey, Syria and The Kurdish region of Turkey and Syria. Professionally, the group ranged from teachers, to psychologists, PSS facilitators and musicians.
Most of the people experienced the earthquake themselves and some of them are also refugees from Syria. The training material and musical exercises were therefore not only practically applicable in their work, but also served as tools for selfcare. 

We do this training program together with Trauma International.
Trauma specialist Anne Don about the training in Gaziantep: 
“The earthquake in Turkey was more than a year ago, but people are still carrying the emotional damage. I am touched by the drive of our participants to provide the best possible psycho-social support to the most vulnerable. Some of them came from the other side of the country and, like many earthquake victims, live in a container. Others have been traumatized by the earthquake themselves. Still others have also experienced the devastation of war in Syria. The resilience of people here is impressive. I am grateful that we were able to share tools and insights with them for the work they do and also that we were able to create a safe space together so that these very hard-working people could catch their breath together.”

Sounds of Change trainer Rian Evers about the training in Mardin:
“I found it moving and inspiring to see how the group changed in just a few days, from a formal to an open and energetic group full of creativity. The group's self-reflective capacity grew enormously, partly thanks to the daily checkins and checkouts. Due to the growing trust in each other, more and more participants found their voice and - as one of the participants described it - the light in their heads that made them light and shine.”

We will return at the end of April for the second part of the training program, with Sounds of Change trainers Hashem Kabreet, Marijn Korff de Gidts and Sander van Goor and Anne Don & Hala Ali from Trauma International. We look forward to continuing to work with these 40 enthusiastic professionals who do incredibly important, beautiful and valuable work.