Planting tree with kids in Baku…(organized by valunteers who are from forign countries)
In Baku it was hard for me to find a place to do my project with kids. Even Iranian cultural center couldn’t make it for students as they are having exams season going on. I was trying to find a way to make it but to be honest I couldn’t. on Wednesday I went to Uzbekistan embassy to apply for visa, they asked me for a letter from Iran’s embassy and it caused me to visit Iran’s embassy. While I was waiting for my letter I met 2 girls there who also were applying for Iranian visa. A very short conversation was enough to realize they are some volunteers doing some work with kids here in Baku. Later on I found out they are actually helping kids from families who are affected by war and somehow they are some kind of refugees. Not having a proper life and enough education is a reason for all those volunteers to be here to support and help all those kids to learn more.They are giving them some lessons for art, English, mathematics and so… So that conversation actually ended up in an appointment for Saturday to have workshop with kids and plant a tree with them. in the same day I visited their place and after that Segolen, Diederik , Sergio and I went to the park to talk more and it was the first step in to our friendship.
A very nice conversation that afternoon brought us to a deeper level of knowing each other. On Saturday 27th of May I packed and I went to the place. ( my host was about to leave for 3 days trip, so I needed to find another place to stay and I left his place ).
I could get a long with kids very easy, they have such a childhood I have had some experience the same. It was somehow the way I passed my childhood, so I could understand them easily. We had a slide show and then we planted a tree, but before that I promised to play football with them after tree planting. After we planted out tree we played football for almost an hour and then my new friends kindly accepted me to stay in their place for 1-2 nights till I can catch the ferry to Aktau in Kazakhstan.Many thanks to Diederik, Segolen, Annamaria, Gabor, Anna, Katalin , Fatma and all volunteers who gave me a hand in our project. Also thanks to Annamaria and Gabor for their pictures.
6 June 2011