Experiences of a Kurdish volunteer in Africa

When Ensari worked as a muezzin, his friend said that there is a necessity for a teacher to teach Quran in Africa. One of his dreams was to go there. He took his valise and went to Africa from Siruc.

In the beginning, Ensari’s family didn’t accept his idea and said “you will starve, it is dangerous” however he turned a deaf ear.

The aim of his firstly is to teach the Quran and did it for three years but later he thought of more.

He realized people need to awareness. When a person feels hungry, you can not feed his/her with religion.

It is very easy to change religion here if you say I will help you and you should change your religion, they do it without query. But it is not ethical.

Ensari wanted to change the ‘spirit of slavery’ there and he was annoyed by that consciousness. 

Yes, it is right that they don’t call slavery anymore but those people still live that lifestyle. When I came first there, everybody called me “boss” because I am white. We can guess with this word their situation. In the district where I live there, this perception changed later. Now they know “white people” also is normal.

Ensari was surprised because local people were indicated.

“Everybody says it’s dangerous, they are humble despite all their absences, and they want to give pleasure to strangers.  

“They are similar to Kurds, that is the way I got accused of them quickly. They are humble despite all their absences, and they want to give pleasure to strangers. They have a clan system like tribal but their principles are harder.”  

“When Kurds get married, especially in my hometown Siruc, the bride’s family wants a lot of gold and also in here they give to cows for marry.”

There are many people who want to help them. They write to Ensari via social media, they did lots of projects for children. These projects are the first here.

“These first projects are very sweet, for example, children who are different from each other ate hamburgers together. We teach them how they eat them.”

“Life in villages is very easy, there is no electricity, therefore, they use solar panels. The sun is at the center of their life. As soon as the sun rises, they go to their gardens because they don’t have machines. They do everything handmade. When the sun goes down, life stops, and everyone goes back to their homes.”

This news was translated by Yonca Sarsilmaz

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Beril Caymaz
Edîtor û nûçegihana Botan Timesê ye. Li Zanîngeha Selçûkê beşa rojnamegeriyê xwendiye. Ji bo Journo, Gazete MLSA, Botan International, PodcastKurdî, Rojnameya 9 Eylulê, Rojnameya 24 Saatê wek rojnamegera serbixwe kar kiriye.

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