“The survivors constantly put me to shame by their resilience.”
No stranger to fundraising through her previous work in RC’s very own Institutional Advancement Office, Mehveş Dramur has been developing fundraising projects outside of RC since 2013, via Türkiye Yardım Sevenler Derneği Kağıthane Şubesi (TYSD).
When the earthquake struck, she reached out to friends on site to learn about the urgent needs, provide them from near cities, hire drivers with small vehicles to bypass the checkpoints for big trucks and reach remote points where nobody could reach yet. Dramur put Instagram to good use, hunting down areas and people in need. She recalls that their first reaction was to send water, packaged food, sanitary supplies and blankets: “In a couple of days it evolved to delivering sleeping bags, then to production and delivery of sleeping bags, which quickly escalated to large durable tents and heaters; now it’s mainly containers.”
Dramur also makes heartbreaking observations: “The survivors constantly put me to shame by their resilience. They have nothing left. This is a very tough pill to swallow. They are always so kind and thankful to which I find myself non-deserving. Nothing we do seems enough to me.” Dramur underlines that the key thing is not to forget about the survivors: “Not everybody should donate money, we can donate our time and energy by finding somebody to reach out to, even just to ask how they are doing. They want to be listened to and feel normal, share their lives with a stranger, to know that they are not alone.”
Published July 2023
