The Olive Branch Project, which is the founding partner of our association, started its activities in its new center.
The Research and Application Center of The Olive Branc Project which carried out together with AID Alliance of International Doctors, The Orphan Foundation and Muntanda AID is opened in Fatih. The institution that will be operate under the name of Burhan Baba Psychosocial Support Center will carry out support programs for Syrian women and children.
The opening ceremony for the main center of the project which has been going on since 2015, started by reading Quran. Speaking afterwards, Orphan Foundation President Mehmet Gülsatar stated that they will expand the work for orphans in Turkiye and stated that the Smiling Faces Project for orphans in the country continues in addition to the Olive Branch Project. ''If Allah wills it, we will move this center toward becoming an international research center in the upcoming period. Psychologists, and other friends have worked very hard since the beginning of this project. As of 2018, we will work together to better carry out the Olive Branch Project.’’ Gülsatar said.
THE ABUNDANCE WAS BORN FROM UNITY.
The Alliance of International Doctors General President Specialist Dr. Mevlit Yurtseven, one of the institutional builders of the project, highlights the solidarity of the partner organizations for the orphan children in the project,’’ The abundance was born from this unity. if Allah wills it, our project turns into an academy with Orphan Foundation and Muntada Aid. Both organizations have a very significant value.’’ said. Hamid Azad, Muntada AID President stated that the managers of the Orphan Foundation and AID Alliance of International Doctors contributed value to the project, and also add their cooperation will continue with new projects. After the speeches, the presidents cut the ribbon together and declared the opening. They toured the three-floor project building where many activities were held for orphan children. They then made their way to the garden section to take a souvenir photo.
The Olive Branch Project that started in June 2015, organizing numbers of programs to lessen the effects of the traumatic experiences had by Syrian refugee children and women who had to migrate to Istanbul as a result of the country's 7-year war. For the Syrian women and children living in Istanbul, Fatih, and the neighboring areas, services still continue to be provided under the project's cover. In the project, which had started with the slogan of "Hope With/out Limits," a team of 22 people gave free psychosocial counseling to 524 children and 742 mothers over the course of three years.
The Olive Branch Project aims that lower the risk factors and improve the support factors in their lives by developing ‘’intervention’’ and ‘’protection’’ programs for the children and women who are war victims. In these psychosocial programs that children and women are helped individually or in groups to regain the lost sense of basic trust, it is aimed to reduce the deteriorating effects that may result from post-traumatic stress reactions and to ensure that people integrate into their social environments.
These are the supports that provide to Syrian children under the project cover: -Individual and group psychotherapy -Art and skills workshops for women and children -Game workshops -Culture, art, and sports activities -Turkish courses, academic support, and education service for children -Turkish courses for women, -Legal support services -Traumatology trainings for schools The project also carries out to promote kids' mental, emotional, and social development in addition to providing curative interventions to kids who have experienced war and as a result of it have experienced post-traumatic stress reactions. Children in Syria who are in their developmental stage but have had their growth interrupted by traumatic experiences are encouraged to develop through art-skill workshops, gaming workshops, and sports activities based on the theory of multiple intelligences. Similar to this, the project that organizes psychological support programs, education services, art and occupational workshops for women aims to empower women spiritually strengthen their parenting skills and assist women in acquiring professional skills.
