Hello big IFRC family, I am Hatice from Turkey. I am the head of the Turkish Red Crescent Youth university club at my school. With the first coronavirus cases in our country, schools were closed and our volunteers went to different cities to their families. Of course, as the Turkish Red Crescent Youth, we would do what we should do as usual. The first thing I could do at this stage was to contact our volunteers with the Red Crescent branches in their cities, and I did so. While the number of cases was low, our studies were generally about giving information and raising awareness to covid19 on social media. Later, we carried these to the squares and distributed hygiene packages to our people. With the increase in the number of dead, curfew came to elderly and chronic patients. We, the Turkis Red Crescent Youth, walked door to door to meet the needs of our elders and asked for their requests and made their shopping. Every time they see the red of our vests, we could see the statement that “thank goodness Red Crescent came” on their eyes. In the long-term curfews announced in the metropolitan cities, we were always in the streets for our people in coordination with the state. We started daily bread distributions. With the arrival of the month of Ramadan, bread and food aid is distributed to 4000 families every day from the branch in my city. In addition, citizens who come from abroad and remain in quarantine have been provided with 3 meals a day since the beginning of the process. The labor and support of our young volunteers are enormous in every aid I have told above. It is enough for us to be proud to receive the message: ” We have Red Crescent when we need “.

Hatice Özer
Turkish Red Crescent
April 29, 2020