Ismail Kucukkaya-Aksam Newspaper 12 September 2003

Bring me the eyes, the eyes
It’s as if nothing can excite
The silence inside
No remarks, no words, no nothing
Bring me the eyes, the eyes
                     Edip Cansever

13 months ago, Ahmet ZIRH (also known as Laz Ahmet) with whom I met during a vacation in Bodrum, forced us to move up while we were sitting on the seashore and  took us to the Bodrum Health Foundation. On the road he said  "At the end of today you will realize how precious your health is.” It seemed to be a very stereotyped sentence to me, then, but I was wrong.

The premises were founded on a 2,5-acre land in Turgutreis, but it was not  the buildings built according to the European standarts that amazed me and evoked admiration in me. It was not the care taken by considering each detail such as the bathrooms for retarded children, either. It was the happiness in the eyes of the retarded children and the infinity of their dreams. I knew and saw that Ahmet Zirh has been neglecting his work and has devoted himself with all his heart and soul to the retarded children for years da. Yet, to be honest, I was not expecting to confront with such a great result. In this center where every single need is served in terms of both physical comfort and specialized trainers, the retarded children join the life without paying any fees. They get involved in both the education processes and the social life. They get rid of their loneliness. They paint, sing, have fun as they wish and learn reading&writing. They also have their vacations there.

While touring the premises, we have interrogated the government with Enver Yilmaz, AK Party Deputy from Ordu: "Is tourism for retarded included in the agenda of Ministry of Tourism?” we wondered. We asked each other when insufficiency of personnel and appropriation in Associatyion of Children Protection will be eradicated.

As we were leaving the foundation we have made a promise to spastic disabled Vahdet Kurþun. We are going to take him to Ýstanbul and introduce him to Ferdi Tayfur. Vahdet could not believe this, but soon, when this dream of his is realized, I will again get lost in his eyes.

My friend from TRT, Tahsin Yildiz, is also a volunteer of the foundation. . . He is trying to sustain the Turkish Foundation of Service for Renal Transplantation and Dialysis Patients in Datça. During the few hours I have spent there, I have witnessed scenes I will never ever forget in whole my life. He has put the two guest-houses in service so that renal patients can use them free of charge. Renal patients with low-income, from all around Turkey are given the opportunity to have their vacations here. They become close friends easily since they share the same trouble. They are never isolated from the society as in other times and the most important of all, they are taken to the dialysis center every day with regular sevices.
Recall the poet who asked "Have your father ever died?". Could we appreciate the value of our healthy days without considering how it is like to be connected to the dialysis machine four times a week for a whole lifetime? As Ahmet Zirh have how precious your health is and what is more important is do not lose the spirit for social solidarity. Somebody is working for it somewhere with all their heart and soul. It is necessary to support them, at least. How did the writer sighed?

“I wish I had wealthier days ahead of me. To give everything endlessly, to give back the ones I have taken . . . What a life it would be!