After several pauses and false starts, next month should mark the return of Astronomy lessons for Syrian Refugees in Ankara.
What I plan on doing is organizing several astronomy tips as so these kids can discover an interest in Astronomy and hopefully other sciences too. My goal is not to preach but to open minds to new ideas!
My hope is to expand these activities as to include impoverished Turkish kids to join in on these events with the refugees. As an outsider, and something I learned from the forces, I've noticed tension between locals and refugees, this is partly fueled by foreign groups solely focusing on the refugees whilst ignoring poor kids in Turkey. Some see this as the refugees taking away from the poor local kids. Rightly or wrongly, I understand how people can believe this.
Depending on resources, I hope to run these events for up to 100 kids which would be a mix between refugees and locals. I am not a charity and lack any support from the UK, any money I get from SteemIt will go towards these projects. I plan on launching a GoFundMe next week to provide help to some specific outreach projects in Turkey.
The following pictures are from a previous Astronomy outreach event for Syrian refugees in Ankara.
Eyes on the universe.
Lesson on the topic of the planets within our Solar System.
A wander through the Observatory.
On a final point. This year I plan on writing once a month about the projects that I am running in the Middle East. Hopefully more than once a month. I'm very keen to hear your feedback in the comments below.