Afife

Afife – ” I am from Turkey and I am a student of medicine. I am 4th grade so I’m half Doctor right now. I will choose my speciality after graduating. Next year I will be in clinic in a hospital so I will try different sections and after graduation I will choose my specialty. Firstly I need that experience in a hospital before I decide.

 

I am in Rome because I am involved in a project which has involved refugees and immigrants. For me this issue is so important. The worlds position in this century, all the time so many people have to move from their country. In Turkey we have 5 million and more displaced people, many Syrian people, so many refugees.

 

I am Muslim and in my beliefs we have to care for different people. We have to care for our sisters and brothers. We have to be good hosts in our country. I started to learn Arabic for that. Firstly this year I wanted to understand my holy book then I realised there were so many refugees in my country and I realised I have to help them. Right now I’m really more ambitious about learning Arabic. This year I volunteered to teach Maths to refugee children. They were only 5 and 6 year olds but It was very cool.

 

When I become a Doctor I want to go to countries where they need me, where I need to be of most use. For example in my country I see so many from war torn Syria and Africa. They will need me. I choose this job to become a doctor to be where they will need me. All my childhood I wanted to be a lawyer. My brother and my father are lawyers. All my life it was my dream to be a lawyer then I went to a science school in my home town and everyone wants to be a doctor or an engineer. The whole time I was saying, I too will be a lawyer. In my last year I read about Doctors Worldwide, Doctors Without Borders and I saw what people can do for each other. I thought if I am a doctor I can help people more than as a lawyer.

 

Tomorrow I go to Turin and we will discuss this issue of how we can help with this huge problem and how we can help together. We will talk and discuss this issue in 6 different countries. England, Belgium, Italy, Turkey, Latvia and another I can’t think of right now.

 

I’m 21 and I really want to travel more. I love travelling especially with projects and with my family. It’s hard being a student but I need to see the world. I much prefer to travel to see local ways of life, to touch people, not touristy. I love to travel and see how family live in countries more than the tourist things. If you stay in a family home you know them, you know what touches people. I went to Spain on a tourist tour but I wish I had a different story to bring home on the realness of where I went. Touristy places show you what they want to show you but we need to see and feel more deeply.

 

I want to know as a human what people in other countries feel, what they think about politics, what they think about religions, how they live and love their families.”