Of all the natural phenomena in the world, nothing compares to the enigmatic light show of the Aurora Borealis. More commonly known as the northern lights, the phenomenon describes the dance of color in the sky sometimes visible in the northern hemisphere. Over the centuries, many myths and legends have circulated about the northern lights. Eskimos used to believe that the lights were spirits of seals, whales and caribou. The Algonquian Indians of Canada thought them to be reflections of a huge fire built by the “Great Spirit.” When the lights shone red, people of the Middle Ages thought it was a signal for impending war. And in Ancient Europe, the sight struck fear in the population who believed it signaled outbreak of death and disease. Elsewhere throughout history, the lights have been described as a “Dance of Spirits” or a sign of God. However, there is a very simple, logical, and, naturally, scientific, reason behind the wonder. The northern lights are in fact the after-effects of storms on the surface of the sun. When the storms subside, charged particles (solar wind) hurtle through outer space and collide with the Earth’s magnetic fields (in this case, the Magnetic North Pole). Though some particles circle the outermost part of the atmosphere, some leak into the upper atmosphere and collide with atoms of air. The energy from the particles is diffused and is visible on the Earth’s surface as the flickering, moving beams of the northern lights.
“Northern Lights” as an Erasmus+ European Voluntary Service project defines the colorful activities of the volunteers in the northmost city of Turkey, Sinop. There are 3 activities in the project:
The 1st activity which will be hosted by the Association of Protection and Sustenance of Stray Animals is a short term for 59 days EVS with 5 flows. In the activity, there will be young people who studied animal health, especially veterinary from Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Spain and Italy and they will take care of the stray animals in the shelter of the Municipality of Sinop.
The 2nd activity which will be hosted by the Association of Sustainable Development of Sinop is compound of one flow with long term 306 days EVS. In the activity, there will be young person from Tunusia.
The 3rd activity will also be hosted by the Association of Sustainable Development of Sinop. It is a short term 59 days EVS with 5 flows. The volunteers who will participate from Croatia, Spain, Italy, Ukraine and Greece and the volunteer from Tunisia in the 2nd activity will have an art background and take part in the setting up Sinopale 7 – the International Sinop Biennial – in 2019, assist the artists and curators from other countries, and make realize their own art activities with the accompany of experienced art directors and find the opportunity to meet them with the audience.
These colorful lights beaming from the the north of Turkey will reveal the natural and antique beauty of Sinop with different art styles and form a shield to protect the stray animals.
OUR VOLUNTEERS:
Activity 1:
Volunteer: Dina Dolbik
Sending Organisation: Belarusian Youth Public Union New Faces, Belarus
Hosting Organisation: Sahipsiz Hayvanları Koruma ve Yaşatma Derneği
Activity Dates : 06 May – 03 July 2019
Dina helped us with the treatment and feeding of our stray friends both in the shelter and in the streets. She worked in our sales.
Volunteer: Fabiola Olivieri
Sending Organisation: AMFI Agenzia per la Mobilità e la Formazione Internazionale, Italy
Hosting Organisation: Sahipsiz Hayvanları Koruma ve Yaşatma Derneği
Activity Dates: 8 July – 4 Sep 2019
Fabiola worked as a vet assistant in the wild life center in Sarıkum. She helped the vets with examination, radiography, medication and surgery. She took take of the patients during the treatment and post op periods and recorded the condition of the patient. After the surgery, she worked on the physiotherapy of some birds to use their wings and legs to live in the nature again. She was responsible for the feeding of the hospitilized wild animals such as deer, gazelle, bear, baby bear and a lot of birds. Also she shared the task of taking care of 7 orphan puppies that came to her flat with the other volunteers. She took the night shifts. She was the angel of all the orphan, wounded and sick animals in Sinop and showed them maternal affection.
Volunteer: Sumeja Jahić
Sending Organisation: Udruzenje Mladi Volonteri, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hosting Organisation: Sahipsiz Hayvanları Koruma ve Yaşatma Derneği
Activity Dates: 9 Sep – 6 Nov 2019
Sumeja worked in the shelter for the health of the stray cats and dogs with Volkan Tuncay, the vet of our municipality and the other volunteer vets. A lot stray friends got well in Sumeja’s hands. She participated actively in our 4 October Animals Day Events. She worked on fund raising activities for our association. She took part in the painting activity of the cat playground. She introduced us Bosnian culture. She made a lot of friends. People loved her very much.
Volunteer: Nieves Gracia Pinilla
Sending Organisation: Asociacion Building Bridges, Spain
Hosting Organisation: Sahipsiz Hayvanları Koruma ve Yaşatma Derneği
Activity Dates: 8 Nov – 21 Dec 2019
Nieves was the doctor of our stray friends in the public shelter and did operations with the municipality’s Vet Volkan Tuncay and our Finnish intern Vet Heidi Peltola. She vaccinated the puppies and diagnosed internal illnesses.
Volunteer: Serena Frigo
Sending Organisation: AMFI Agenzia per la Mobilità e la Formazione Internazionale, Italy
Hosting Organisation: Sahipsiz Hayvanları Koruma ve Yaşatma Derneği
Activity Dates: 19 Jan – 13 Feb 2020
Activty 2:
Volunteer: Chada Elward Mazigh
Sending Organisation: Club Culturel Ali Belhouane Tunis, Tunisia
Hosting Organisation: Sinop Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Derneği
Activity Dates: 25 March 2019 – 25 January 2020
Chada took tasks in the artistic and cultural events of Sinop. The biggest of all was Sinopale 7. Chada assisted a lot of Turkish and foreign artists and curators in Sinopale, the international artistic and cultural biennial of Sinop. She met her own work with the audience with our Ukrainian artist volunteer Kate Buriak in Sinopale. Besides the biennial, she also assisted the artists and curators in the other mid-performances, exhitibitions and workshops of Sinopale. She also took tasks in Lakerda (pickled tunny) Festival.
She also did amazing things for our association. Most important of all, she hosted a lot of homeless cats and dogs in her home and took care of them. The most significant one was that she shared the responsibility of 7 orphan puppies who were 10 days old with the other volunteers. All of the babies were survived and all of them were adopted. She worked in our sales for the stray animals every day. She organized the shop. She created a card game with our Ukrainian artist volunteer, Kate for the children to raise awareness on animals and to develop their intelligence and attention to be sold in the sales. All of them were sold out. She took tasks on our brunch activities. She designed the products for the New Year gift sets as another fund raising activity and all of the sets were sold out. Also she designed all the posters and presentations of our all activities with her great talents.
She was the assistant director of our public service announcement movie on stray animals which was directed by our Spanish film director volunteer, Alvaro Hernandez Sanchez and wrote the scenerio.
She took tasks on 23rd Children’s Day event and painted the faces of the children.
Chada, throughout her activity helped 21 foreign volunteers to adapt themselves to the environment and their tasks. She became their mentor. She also took Turkish lessons and became one of us.
She made a lot of friends in Sinop and everybody loved her. We very much loved Chada, who did her second EVS with us.
Activity 3:
Volunteer: Álvaro Hernández Sánchez
Sending Organisation: Asociacion Building Bridges, Spain
Hosting Organisation: Sinop Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Derneği
Activity Dates: 20 April 2019 – 17 June 2020
Alvaro participated in the cultural and artistic activities of the Association of Sustainable Development of Sinop and also he served for us. He made a Public Service Announcement film for the stray animals. He made a mural in the cultural center for the Municipality of Sinop. He added new creations in his personal photo portfolio by developing his photography skills.
Volunteer: Kateryna Buriak
Sendinf Organisation: Non-Government Organization “Unit”, Ukraine
Hosting Organisation: Sinop Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Derneği
Activity Dates: 19 June – 16 August 2019
Kate, an artist, took tasks in Sinopale 7. She worked with the curators and the whole team to make realize the biennial. She took part in the project “Gule Gule” of Bremen Art University with Professor Samuel Nyhol. She made contacts with the team from Bremen. She made the workshop of cleaning the beach area from the trash and making stencils. She realised the project “Plastic waves” with our Tunisian artist volunteer Chadha Mazigh for Sinopale 7. She drew the views of Sinop for Sinopale archive. She took part in all workshops and performances in Sinopale7. She assisted during the ceramic exhibition. She worked in the sales of our association. She designed the memory card game for the sales and all of them are sold out! Also with the other volunteers, night – day she took the responsibility of 7 orphan puppies that had to stay in her house.
Volunteer: Tin Bulić
Sending Organisation: Centar za osobni i profesionalni razvoj Syncro – Synergy Croatia
Hosting Organisation: Sinop Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Derneği
Activity Dates: 19 August – 16 October 2019
Tin participated in the working team to make realize all performances, exhibitions and workshops of Sinopale 7. After the biennial was over, he made 2 playgrounds for the cats in the shelter with his carpentary skills. He took tasks in our events on the 4th October World Animal Day. He made the children love animals and he was the guest of Barış FM of their on air show.
Volunteer: Ioannis Voutsas
Sending Organisation: Hellenic Youth Participation, Greece
Hosting Organisation: Sinop Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Derneği
Activity Dates: 21 Oct – 18 Dec 2019
Ioannis worked a lot for both his hosting organisation and the stray animals. Ioannis as a vet, did operations with our municipality’s vet Volkan Tuncay. He vaccinated the puppies and diagnosed internal illnesses.
Volunteer: Nina Turina
Sending Organisation: Centar za osobni i profesionalni razvoj Syncro – Synergy Croatia, Hırvatistan
Hosting Organisation: Sinop Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Derneği
Activity Dates: 08 Jan – 06 Mar 2020
Nina did so many things during her activity. She took part in the cultural and artistic activities of the Association of Sustainable Development of Sinop. She made a documentary film about the fishermen in Sinop. She generated and made products in order to be sold for our stray friends. She took beautiful photos of our friends in the shelter in order to be adopted.
