Dear Parents/Carers 

We have been talking to the children about the events in Turkey and Syria and the devastation caused by the huge earthquake and they are really keen to help in some way. Therefore, we have once again teamed up with the local charity Operation Orphan. They already have one crisis team on the ground helping children and families and they are hoping to send another team out soon. They have advised that the best way to help at the moment is by asking for monetary donations. They do not take any funding to run the charity but every single penny raised enables them to directly support those in need.

 

The children have decided that this Friday (24th February) we have a non-uniform day in school to support this charity. If you would like to make a small donation this can be brought to school with your child. If you feel that you would like to donate more you can do so by sending some direct to Operation Orphan via this link https://operationorphan.enthuse.com/CRT-Turkey-2023#!/ Thank you for your support. We will continue to be in contact with Operation Orphan and hope that they will come and share their experiences with us at some point. In the meantime please see below the latest update from Operation Orphan regarding the disaster:

 

The team visited lots of families who were isolated and not connected to the main response. These people have all had their homes destroyed. Twenty children (aged from 40 days to 17 years) who lost one or both parents were located and made safe. One six-year-old was still living in a car but now they have a large tent they can live in until a more permanent solution can be established. The new born baby was living in a make shift tent. Mum died going into the house for a blanket. We are glad to have been able to help them and bring some stability. We also visited three IDP camps and gave 260 hand crafted blankets directly to orphaned or displaced children. Large family tents, hand knitted blankets, emergency foil blankets, toys, hygiene products, generator, water filtration system, lighting, food and emergency cash were given to those in need, depending on their personal situation. The team also played lots of games and brought some fun as a way to help children begin to deal with the trauma. We completed visiting all the children on our lists. These lists were compiled by local people and sent to us by a lady from the region who is now living in the UK. Every referral was accurate. There are many more names of children that meet our criteria coming in and funding permitting, a follow up team is ready to be sent. Whilst the majority of orphans have been found by the state, and are now safe in the care system, there are so many of these children living in between the rubble and are unknown. People are so traumatised they don’t want to leave their homes and are reluctant to move to the many organised camps being set up. The scale of the disaster in this region is beyond imagination. The areas we visited are beyond recognition and if we have sufficient funding we would like to send a second team as soon as possible to help support children long term.

 

You can follow the progress of the team on Operation Orphan website and their Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/OperationOrphan

 

Mrs Revill

Head Teacher