Contribute to our safe, nurturing and creative space in Sapanca, Turkey

Details

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  Description

  VERY IMPORTANT:
  
  1. Do not apply if you expect to meet and work with refugee women writers and scholars directly. You'll be contributing to a vision and a long-term project so your time and labor are precious for us while you're cleaning or organizing the bookshelf too:)
  
  2. Please be knowledgeable of the basic refugee policies and migration politics in Turkey as we have encountered some non-Turkish volunteers who showed lack of even simple information and sensitivity towards the refugee causes and what was going on in the country.
  
  3. We are engaged in earthquake survivors' projects in Hatay (since March 2023) and hoping to offer some training and healing sessions to small groups in Sapanca. Our priority is children and women. If you're into animal-assisted therapy, we need you, please apply!
  
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  Our house is located in Sapanca. This town is around 80 miles from Taksim (of Istanbul) and 60 miles from Sabiha Gokcen International Airport on the Asian side. It has managed to keep its rich and green flora despite development. In fact, the village where the House is located is called Kirkpinar, ‘forty springs’ in Turkish. Lake Sapanca is in walking distance after you pass an array of local cafes and restaurants on the Baghdad Street that was once part of the Silk Road allowing caravans through. If you are into outdoor activities year round, it is the place for you. If you miss the big city vibe and some crazy traffic, want to attend concerts, visit museums, Istanbul is close by (jump on a train or rent a car).
  
  The ideal candidate's native language is English, age: 25+, she is drama-free co-helper (+housemate and/or house-sitter at times), preferably with experience in editing and/or a true passion for literature, reading, and writing. She will help us mainly for maintaining social media activity and website. Having a driver license is a plus. She will participate in the usual house maintenance such as cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping etc. (the basics of sharing a house:) Punctuality and meeting deadlines are important especially when it comes to administrative duties above. She loves and respects nature truly, has interest to learn and teach (us) about all beings of the Creation. She has understood and internalized the necessity of a healthy-living, respects one's body and soul in order to have harmonious and creative contributions. Following rules without seeing the rationale behind them can be challenging and may cause tension and imbalance at times. Even better if you're already vegan or vegetarian with a sugar-free diet. Recycling and composting is your second-nature:) We welcome and appreciate your gifts and bringing food or home supplies as long they are need-based. We discourage consumption, especially with harmful packaging (plastic, canned food, and anything with preservatives or processed sugar, artificial flavor or color).
  
  We have redesigned our home space as a multi-functional nurturing and creative space for immigrant and refugee women whose research, writing and/or art projects had to be put on hold due to challenging and unforeseen circumstances in life. It is a space for wellness, inspirational work, meetings, knowledge exchanges, all of which will lead to intercultural solidarity and empowerment as well. Although our home-work-space is for creative women's experiences, men who are supportive and respectful of women's struggles are also welcome.
  
  It is an eco-friendly house. Our products are carefully chosen and consumed. We are very conscious of the unity and multiple bonds among species. It is also a substance free space both in the house and the garden, that is, alcohol-free, smoke-free, and meat-free. The house is also scent-free but essential oils are exceptions:) We love to laugh, cook, and eat together, and have lots of joy in sharing too.
  
  Join us for a meaningful discourse around the challenges of our times, give your support and share your energy in taking new steps in y/our lives!
  
  Thank you and good luck.
  ==

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Teaching

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  A small garden with (a modest amount of) seasonal vegetables, herbs, flowers, pine and fruit trees (generous amount of fruits, especially kiwis, persimmons, and pomegranates to keep us all happy!), view of the mountains, a healthy and plant-based food in our kitchen, a substance-free living space (also free from artificial scents and chemicals).
  
  A little information about the owner:
  
  My name is Ozlem (49). I am a writer, traveler, translator, activist, and academic with a special interest toward comparative literature and religions, nature, cooking, alternative medicine, community service, gardening and recycling among other things which makes life rich and meaningful. My previous work with women from all walks of life provided me with experiences that no money can buy. I lived abroad for 20+ years and hold dual citizenship.

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  Help

  Our Priority:
  We are currently looking for long term volunteer, an enthusiastic intern to help engage communities for our social and creative initiative.
  - Animal-assisted therapy people who can show proof of engagement in this field.
  - Develop marketing strategy to increase engagement with the local and international community
  - Promote events, workshops ands services
  - Assist the Program Manager with administrative tasks.
  Requirements: Pursuing or pursued a degree in marketing, community engagement, event organising etc. Experience with social media management and content creation.
  
  Possible Other Projects we can do together:
  Woodwork to create unique furniture, bookshelves for house. Recycling projects. Fence building with bamboos and other material (work in progress).
  Building a tree house, shack, and/or storage space in the garden.
  Graphic designer, content editor, social media administrator to help us for our website and project applications.
  Visiting local schools for small-scale creative workshops and gatherings.
  We are open to creative and sustainable ideas for our garden and house. Please share!

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Turkish: Fluent
  German: Intermediate

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  Accommodation

  The house has three bedrooms, one living room, two full bathrooms (one is accessible) and one multipurpose small room. We just transformed the upstairs balcony into a greenhouse or the 'winter garden' as it is commonly referred to here; it also makes a lovely art-studio and/or 'writer's inspirational corner' due to its gorgeous view. We have various options for you to sleep depending on the time period you are coming. Depending on your choice and the season you are coming, one private bedroom is available.
  
  We love to try new recipes, play, explore and it would be possible to share some kitchen experiences during your stay! We also would love to share some unique products and our knowledge, experiences about them. Our kitchen is vegan-vegetarian but there are many restaurants for the 'other' stuff nearby! Conversations over nature, plant-based diet and recipes, animals, sustainable living, ecofeminism, veggies, composting and sharing practices over recycling and education are particularly welcomed!
  
  We love to share basic food and knowledge about them. Usually, we eat dinners together after a busy day, sometime around 7-7:30 pm. Volunteers prepare their own breakfast and lunch.

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  What else ...

  There are rivers on the mountains you can visit by car and explore wild nature. Horse riding, hiking, mountain biking and kayaking are possible to arrange, and bikes are the best and greenest means of transportation around and easy to rent!

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  Not %100 reliable so it is a good idea to have a backup system (making my smart phn a hot spot is my Plan B) We also have rare power-cuts for short time (30 min to 1 hr) so it's also something to keep in mind even if they're rare.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  ONLY if they are kept in the garden! (definitely no indoors, sorry). We've got many stray cats around (like all over Turkey) and they love our garden so keep it in mind too:)

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 20 hours / week

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