Children in UK sell toys, write letters to quake-victim peers in Türkiye

By Burak Bir and Behlul Cetinkaya

LONDON (AA) - In the wake of last week's massive earthquakes that left much of southern Türkiye in need of humanitarian aid and shelter, a group of London children has sold their toys and written letters to show their solidarity with their peers in the disaster-hit areas.

A Turkish community in London held an event featuring a fundraising campaign and raising awareness on sharing and solidarity over last Monday's deadly earthquakes in Türkiye.

During the "Toy Fundraiser" event, held by the Children's Club of the Islamic Community Milli Gorus (ICMG) in north London, a group of Turkish children sold their toys to help the quake victims.

Later, they watched video clips on the earthquake as part of the group's awareness program and then they wrote letters to their peers in Türkiye, expressing their thoughts and sorrow due to the disaster.

Speaking to Anadolu at the event, Murat Kucuk, working as Türkiye's Diyanet staff at the group, said that they held this campaign to encourage children to participate in charity, cooperate, and be kind.

"Our children brought their toys. First, they made a donation, and then they will make a second donation by buying the toys they like here," he said.

Another important goal of the organization is that they would like children to learn that Türkiye is their motherland, underlined Kucuk, who has been in London for seven years.

"Allah forbid, when our country faces another problem such as this [earthquake], we want them to rush to help, saying 'it's my homeland,' to get used to doing it so that they will do [what is necessary] when Türkiye needs them in the future."

- Letters filled with emotion

Speaking to Anadolu, Sibel Sicimogullari, head of the group's Children's Club, said that today's organization was an idea of children.

She said that after the earthquake, some of them started to ask what they could do for victims as everyone was making something and offering to send their toys to quake-hit children.

She said they first wanted to send their toys, adding that sending toys from the UK to Türkiye could be difficult. Then, Sicimogullari said they had talked with children about what they could do for quake-hit children in Türkiye.

"When they told about these thoughts and feelings, I told them, 'Let's take action then, let's sell these toys, if we can't send the toys, then let's send the money,'" Sicimogullari noted.

She went on to say that as Children's Club, they also decided to tell their feelings and send them to children in Türkiye to show solidarity with their "brothers and sisters."

"... All of them wrote very nice letters to their friends. I want to share one. 'I was very upset because my cousin Reyhan's home was destroyed. She was left in it. They couldn't take it out. I wanted to send my toys and clothes to them. I pray a lot."

Children were also responsible for the organization as they are always asked to take responsibility, she added.

In other words, underlined Sicimogullari, this shows children have powerful feelings and feel stronger emotions than us.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, affected more than 13 million people across 11 provinces.
So far, over 38,000 people have died, tens of thousands have been injured, and more than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes.