Rotary School

---

5/29/08 Rotary School

Rotary raised money for and constructed the school that we visited today in only 6 months. In Istanbul there aren’t enough schools to accommodate the increase in population each year and the government doesn’t have enough money to build all of these schools, so private organizations or individuals are allowed to build schools. When construction is complete the school is turned over to the school board. $2 million is the approximate cost to construct this school. All of the funds were donated by Rotarians. It started with the district governor’s wife who donated $25,000 to sponsor the construction of one classroom. The head of the board (of this project) donated the money for the cement for one floor. At this point the district governor started speaking at meetings and asking for donations. The way he explained it seemed that it was a chain reaction. Hot dog and soda parties were hosted at the construction site to allow people to see the progress the project is making first hand and to raise money. A local steel company donated all of the steel for the school which was worth about $125,000. People donated all of the money and materials to construct this school. Its amazing what people can do when they pull together.

This school is an Anatolian school meaning it offers special classes in the languages: English, French, and German. There are 80 schools of this type in Istanbul. The Rotary school ranks 39th in their third year of being open. Next year the first class will take the exam for the university and they are hoping to move up the ranks when their students are successful on this test.

Music and Art are also offered at this school which not all schools in Turkey offer. Three students were practicing for a talent show while we were there. Two of them played the guitar and one sang.

We had a lunchtime presentation today. My host father was a member of this club. They meet at a restaurant overlooking the Bosphorus. This was an older club with only one female member.

Following the meeting we visited a very interesting museum that was filled with artifacts excavated from Turkey. My favorite things were the jewelry and statues.

---

Photos

Thıs class was learnıng German
Many dıfferent languages are taught at thıs school

Computer lab
These students were workıng on the school newspaper... some of ıt was ın Englısh. Thıs allows them to practıce theır grammar and spellıng

My host father
He ıs a past dıstrıct governor and a VERY nıce man

How would you lıke to meet here?
The water was exceptıonally blue today