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Chairs report at AGM in 2008

Welcome to all of our readers.

As FIG commences its fifth year we find ourselves facing some new and different challenges.  Fortunately we have firm foundations from which to operate, established as we are within FETAV a Turkish Charitable Foundation.  This continues to meet our philosophy of working within and being part of the local community and providing a means whereby foreigners of all nationalities can contribute.  We have retained our target to raise money for the benefit of local children and their education.

2007 saw us appealing for special donations to meet special needs particularly after we met a 2^nd year pupil using an elderly relative’s hearing aids.  This appeal was met with great generosity particularly by one person who also went on to use FIG/FETAV channels to help others in need, especially an intelligent young woman from the Women’s Refuge.  FIG also visited and gave some help to the refuge as there are children living there with their mothers.  Other folk and organisations have also donated to our ‘special needs fund’.  The young deaf lad has made very good progress and will have a much better quality of life as a result of the help we were enabled to send to him.  Another handicapped child and his family were helped by being funded to travel to Izmir to consult the right specialists, have the right tests, get the right diagnoses and thereby manage the condition in the best way.  We notice that when one person in need is helped it also brings happiness to those who are near to them and spreads a little of the warmth we do all need and can all gain when we share a little love and kindness together.

We have continued to supply attractive reading and reference books to schools and were also enabled to provide other materials such as desks, chairs cupboards and shelves, where they were needed, especially in the smaller village schools nestling in the mountain areas.  It has been a real pleasure to give out the beautiful jumpers so many of our supporters have knitted and I am sure it is not stretching the imagination to think about the child who is used to living in ‘hand me downs’ being really pleased with the new shoes (this time not plastic), socks, jumpers and school uniforms that they have been given.  Personally as a child I would have gone to bed with such possessions and I expect a few of them did as well!  We were especially pleased to be able to refurbish the nursery class in Gokben School as a memorial to Bob Abraham from the funds his friends had collected.  We continue to liaise with the local director of education regarding the best use of our funds within the schools.

Fig has also taken on responsibility for providing 10 bursaries for university students, some of whom we have supported for the last 2 years.  At 100 lira a month (subject to annual inflation) for 9 months of the year it is not much for each individual but it is a serious commitment for us as we see our adopted students through their education and it would be unthinkable to stop before they graduate.

As FIG has had to move from our previous accommodation we now have expenses we have not had before.  Jill will be giving you more details about these and we are confident they will still be a small percentage of our outgoings and one quite compatible with the responsible running of a small charity.  It has meant however that for the meantime we are not visiting schools and distributing books, whilst we rebuild the customer base that we lost due to our move, especially as we need to ensure the bursaries are paid.  We are pleased with our new room and it has some advantages, but it is just that little harder for our customers to find and sitting on the landing outside the room is not quite as nice as sitting outside was.  If we are very lucky we may find somewhere better as long as any rental is minimal!

Looking forward, we are determined to keep FIG going and hopeful of at least equalling last year’s achievements.  We are arranging some social events and are determined that these will not only be fun for the participants but will also raise funds that, as ever FIG will spend for the benefit of local children.

We give special thanks to Kathryn Kanat who used to work for Thomas Cook and by a lot of hard work raised money from the tourists she met there, and we also thank our Nese who has very generously contributed from her Turkish lessons and other activities.

We give thanks to all of our helpers including Grace and Glenys for their stalwart efforts in our salesroom and their total reliability for always being there.  To Christine, Keith, Frank, Barbara and Elsabeth at the coffee mornings and to Tadim for having us there.  Jill Erdogan needs recognition for the work she puts into drawing up our accounts and ensuring we keep financially on track and especially from stopping me from over committing ourselves, plus her tireless running around sorting out the hundreds of other things that just have to be done.  Gill Frearson also needs recognition for the hours she has also put in running around Fethiye, sometimes with Nese, organising purchases of furniture for schools, uniforms, keeping regular contact with the schools who have requested special items ranging from folk dance outfits, to cupboards or volunteers and getting good deals on functions not to mention organising the Fete.  We are also indebted to the help of Dilek and Kadriye from FETAV, we miss being with them, but they remain vital as Kadriye helps to organise and authorise the school visits and does the banking and Dilek represents our needs with the authorities and copes with the audits of FETAV that our membership has made more complicated.  So I would like to hear a hearty round of applause for all of these good people without whom FIG would not be so effective.

Sue Tekin Chair

fethiye international group