Çöp Bayram - Litter Day

[fazile]

İ just wanted to publicly thank everyone who volunteered, bought presents and offered generous sponsorship to our litter cleaning campaign in Dalyan on Friday 5th June. Around 200 of us collected litter from the four corners of the town. Around 250 dustbin bags of litter were collected. İ hope to organise the same type of event again in Otober and hope many more of you will find the time to join in.
Sezgin will be thanking the Turkish members of the community and İ wanted to thank the international residents who made the day a success.

Especial thanks to:
For sponsorship: Berna Babaoğlu Ulutaş - Tourism, Culture and Enviromental Group
İz Cafe
Select Estate Agency
The Queens Hotel
Euro Delicatesse
King Emlak

The money donated was spent on providing the volunteers with food and drink at the end of the day. İ had hoped to spend more time raising money but pregnancy sickness impeded me.

For gathering the litter:
Jo Byrne and John
Brian and Doreen Wood
Steve Smith
John and Sandra Lyles
Alison Duff
Co and Maria Jonker
Greg Frank
Zoe Almeida
Gulzar Ahmed
Mark and Jan Morrison
Gordon Davy

 

[JEANNIE]

Congratulations and well done. :grouphug:


Jeannie

 

[Terry the Celt]

Hi Fazile
Just seen your post.
I dont live in Turkey but have an apartment in Fethiye so dont know Dalyan at all!
Regardless of that please pass on my note of appreciation for the efforts in collecting all that litter as a group.It was a brilliant post to raise the spirits and show some people care about an area from an environmental point of view.
I dont post that much now but your post required a sincere thank you.
I do photography as a hobby and take a lot of nature and landscape pictures. There is nothing worse or more soul destroying than having to spend 10 minutes at every spot picking up any rubbish that might ruin the atmosphere.
Turkey is a beautiful country and the efforts of people like yourselves will help to ensure it remains so.Some of the ruins,temples and beauty spots deserve to remain as peaceful and frozen in time as they always have without being destroyed by modern attitudes and lack of thought.
If I was in the area in October I would be there at sunrise thinking " What a worthwhile way to spend a day"
Great post and thank you.
I wish you well with your new arrival.

 

[Jane Moorman]

What an excellent idea. Well done everyone.
It would be good if all the different areas could organise the same.
Even better would be to have all of the areas doing it on the same day wearing TLF t-shirts and maybe it would get into the papers etc and people would start thinking about taking their litter home.

 

[Terry the Celt]

I do think this kind of example works because its showing others how important it is,particularly the youngsters here in the UK anyway.
My wife shrinks back in despair at some of the things I do.
About 2 weeks ago a large gang of kids were celebrating half term after leaving the school bus and they all had bottles of lemonade which they left in a pile on the ground.
I stopped the car ,picked every bottle up and put them in the bin surrounded by around 15 gobsmacked teenagers.I just glared and said "please use the bins as litter wrecks the countryside" and drove off.Perhaps its coincidence but the place has been spotless since yet the same group use it daily from the same school.

I was at Rochester Castle doing photography a month ago and a group of kids were sat on the grass. After taking a few pictures I noticed they had got up and left their drink bottles behind so I walked over and said "Look this castle is beautiful so please put your litter in the bin"
Without a complaint they did this immediately and I just said "Thank you thats brilliant!!"
I think if they think somebody is bothered enough to be concerned they react better.

If they have parents or perhaps teachers that dont appear bothered,they wont be either!! Society only reacts to how the previous generation behave and their attitudes.

My wife is a "Dont get involved" person and you can understand her feelings following reports of others getting stabbed for intervening but you cant let that isolated risk stop you from doing what you feel is right for you.
Litter is to me one of the most depressing things about life today so the initiator of this thread deserves a medal!!

Sorry way off thread so apologise Lol!

 

[fazile]

Thank you all for your comments. We are very much hoping that next June 5th the schools will support us again in Dalyan and we can repeat the day. This time İ will also be trying to get the Gökbel school involved in their own village. İf there are those of you that want to take up the 'Çöp Bayram' idea in your own areas İ am happy to share details of the logistics with you. İt really wasn't that hard and our local primary just had the library books and chess equipment that İş Bank promised as a sponsor delivered promptly yesterday so İ imagine they feel it's worth it too. İn October İ'm going to try a smaller adults only event but İ may have to get out there and cajole a bit harder to get enough volunteers. İ'm hoping that as İ'll be seven months pregnant by then and large as a whale people will pity me and say yes. İ just love the idea that one day Dalyan might be the most litter free town in Turkey!

 

[GnD]

Well done Fazile, good work esp while coping with that sickness feeling - :/

The girls and I always pick up stray bags/bottles/rubbish as we go in Dalaman when walking and have said it's particularly bad by the litlle water way under the little white bridge as you leave Dalaman. I don't live out there so planning from UK - with very little Turkish, is not something I can take on but might consider a suggestion or two in the right ears when next out. If possible would you email me the logistics you mentioned and I will "sell" pass on the idea.

very well done
Debbie

 

[fazile]

thanks debbie - do you want it as a personal message? if so can you send me your email address?

 

[LezliG]

Thank you all for your comments. We are very much hoping that next June 5th the schools will support us again in Dalyan and we can repeat the day. This time İ will also be trying to get the Gökbel school involved in their own village. İf there are those of you that want to take up the 'Çöp Bayram' idea in your own areas İ am happy to share details of the logistics with you. İt really wasn't that hard and our local primary just had the library books and chess equipment that İş Bank promised as a sponsor delivered promptly yesterday so İ imagine they feel it's worth it too. İn October İ'm going to try a smaller adults only event but İ may have to get out there and cajole a bit harder to get enough volunteers. İ'm hoping that as İ'll be seven months pregnant by then and large as a whale people will pity me and say yes. İ just love the idea that one day Dalyan might be the most litter free town in Turkey!

I'll be out in October and would be more than willing to help. I've pm'd you my email address.