Dr. Sedef Önde, president and Global Action Team chairperson of the Izmir Goztepe Lions Club in İzmir, Turkey, was checking her Facebook page last November when smiling children caught her attention. Upon further examination, she found that they were students of Hasan Kartal, a teacher at a primary school in Diyarbakir. The smile was caused by the teacher’s dedication to his students and the creativity that he put into his lessons.
As a retired doctor and the president and GAT chairperson of a club within an organization that has a focus on ending hunger, Dr. Önde knew what she had to do.
Mr. Kartal was not limiting his students’ learning experience to just inside the classroom. Instead, he took his lesson on nutrition and nature outdoors to the school’s garden where he taught them about growing food and preparing it to eat. Dr. Önde’s curiosity was peaked. She wanted to learn more, so she contacted Kartal through Facebook. “When I first found out about Hasan Kartal and his work,” she said, “I was so impressed that I wanted to do something for him and his students. I immediately contacted him and asked him how I could help.”
Much to Dr. Önde’s surprise, Kartal did not want fancy computers or TVs for his classroom—what he asked for was books—especially those about nutrition. New or used, it did not matter to him. He wanted to create a library for his entire community. As it turns out, he did not want to stop at helping his students. He wanted to better support his community as a whole by bringing in families to teach them of the benefits of good nutrition at home.
Photograph by Hasan Kartal
Mobilizing for action
As a retired doctor and president of a Lions club within an organization that focuses on ending hunger, Dr. Önde knew what she had to do. She mobilized her GAT and her club to action in service of Kartal, his students and his community. With the saying “Where there’s a need, there’s a Lion” in the back of her mind, she brought the project to her club members at their next meeting. They enthusiastically agreed to pursue it.
And so, the Lions of the Izmir Goztepe Lions Club got to work. They bought or located any and all books that they could for the project. In addition to purchasing books, they reached out to their friends, families and neighbors for donations. They focused on getting books about nutrition, but sent everything, including children’s books, to the school. One of the club members even donated portions of her late husband’s library when she learned about the cause. In the end, their months of hard work paid off. They collected and shipped five large containers filled with books to Kartal for his library.
Photograph by Hasan Kartal
Showing gratitude on Facebook
A few weeks later, he and his students created a Facebook post to thank the Lions for their contributions to the new library. The pictures showed students holding signs saying things like, “You made us very happy,” and “Love from Diyarbakir.” Other posts on Kartal’s Facebook page show the students and community members enjoying the library that he created for them.
In looking back on how the project affected the members of her club, Dr. Önde was proud to say that “this was the most touching and impressive project of the 2018-2019 fiscal year.” The Lions of Goztepe Izmir hope to visit the school and meet Mr. Kartal and his students in person one day, but in the meantime, they are grateful that they have the opportunity to keep in touch with them through Facebook.
Learn more about how Lions are utilizing Facebook in their clubs by joining the Global Action Team Facebook Group.
Corina Castillo is the Global Action Team specialist and Christy Kneisel is the Global Action Team coordinator for Lions Clubs International.
