COFFEE MORNING STAFF

 

 

 

 

Cafe FIG is held every Wednesday between 11am and 1pm at the Tadim cafe behind Carrefour in the centre of town.  It is hosted in a very friendly fashion by Caroline and Roy Slawinski.  Caroline and Roy decided to settle in Turkey some 6 years ago, having come to love the Turkish culture after spending several holidays here.  They initially owned property in Caliş then decided to move right out to the countryside in Eşen, which is about an hour’s drive away.  Here with plenty of land, they run a smallholding, keeping ducks, chicken, rabbits and a dog and cat and growing things.  Caroline loves the idea of skill sharing and readily shares her culinary and preserving skills with neighbours, whilst learning how to manage the local challenges of running a smallholding from them.  They have followed FIG’s progress since its inception, but they did not get involved at first as they knew they would be moving away from the Fethiye area.  They then decided to support the Mavi Kuş organisation, when it first started, coming fortnightly to help at a stall at the Tuesday Market.  After reading about the coffee morning in this paper, they decided to attend and found it to be a very nice way to meet others and to support help for local children.  They also like the idea of ‘giving something back to a country that allows us to stay here’.  When asked by our treasurer Jill Erdoğan, they agreed to help out at the coffee morning on alternate Wednesdays.  Following the departure of Christine Williams, who used to run Cafe FIG, they very kindly volunteered to work at the coffee morning every week.  Roy, as you can see from the picture is a very cheerful washer up and now has considerable knowledge about living and managing in Turkey!

You simply must come and sample one of Caroline’s cakes; they are delicious and, if appropriate, contact her about the possibility of donating one yourself.  Caroline says that some of her friends/customers also kindly donate tea and coffee and it really is very like an extended family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are pictures of 3 more folk who make up the friendly Cafe Fig team.

 

In the middle is Pat Goldsmith; she and her husband had been regular visitors to Turkey for twelve years until they decided to settle here two years ago.  They bought property next to a friend they had made on their very first holiday and are very happy to live amongst Turkish neighbours.  Pat explains that they really enjoy this as their neighbours make sure they are included in everything that is going on and they are frequent recipients of Turkish neighbourliness and hospitality.  In return Pat and her husband take care of the garden, which she says is typically English!  Pat came to help at Cafe Fig soon after she settled in Fethiye and states they she thinks the work carried out by FIG is wonderful, so she happily makes cake for you to enjoy when you support at the coffee morning.  Do come and try one, they are tasty and Pat is interesting to talk to.

 

On the Left is Ann Young, who had lived in Fethiye for five years, but moved back to the UK last August.  She loves to return for holidays and when she does she makes sure she comes to help at the coffee morning, where she finds that 2 hours passes very enjoyably and quickly, with the added bonus of being helpful to others at the same time.

 

Many of you will recognise Peter who looks after the financial side of the coffee morning, in that he takes your money and keeps careful records!  Peter’s introduction to Turkey was a holiday on a Gulet in 2002 and, following a friend’s decision to move over here, he decided to follow suit and ‘sold up’ in the UK and bought a property in Günlükbaşı in 2006.  Peter decided to come and help at Fig after attending one of our Turkish Language courses.  As Peter has been on one or two of our school visits and seen some of our work at first hand he says he is very happy to make his contribution to supporting such work.

 

 

 

Fethiye International Group