As part of World Food Day celebrations on October 16th, LEAP organized a community event in its community center in Çorum, under its ongoing project “Increasing Resilience of Refugees and Vulnerable Host Community Members and Fostering Peaceful Co-Existence in Çorum.” The event brought together participants from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, including Iranian, Syrian, Iraqi, Algerian, Afghan, and Turkish participants, to promote social cohesion while raising awareness about accessing healthy and secure food, and food waste prevention.
Language Education and Social Integration
The event was integrated into the Turkish language course sessions that are a key component of the project, targeting refugees and vulnerable host community members in Çorum. By combining language learning with interactive activities, the event offered participants the opportunity to improve their Turkish language skills and a platform to engage with one another, fostering a deeper sense of understanding and peaceful coexistence.
Awareness on Healthy Diet and Food Waste
The event kicked off with an informative session about the importance of accessing healthy and secure food and maintaining a balanced diet. Participants learned about the dangers of unhealthy eating habits and the critical need to reduce food waste. The session emphasized practical ways individuals can prevent food waste at home and within their communities, aligning with LEAP’s broader goal of promoting sustainable living practices.
Building Social Bonds Through Collaborative Poster Design Activity
After the awareness session, participants were divided into random groups, comprising individuals from different nationalities and backgrounds. These groups worked together using cut-and-paste techniques to design posters that visually represented healthy and unhealthy food choices. This activity not only reinforced the event’s key messages but also encouraged participants to practice their Turkish language skills while learning new vocabulary related to food and nutrition.
The collaborative nature of this activity created a supportive environment where participants from various cultures could interact and build social connections. Working side by side in mixed groups, participants developed friendships and gained a better understanding of each other’s cultural backgrounds, contributing to the project’s larger objective of fostering social cohesion. The event also provided refugee participants with valuable opportunities to improve their language proficiency in Turkish, further aiding their integration into the host community.
One Last Word
The World Food Day event in Çorum successfully combined educational sessions with interactive activities to promote social cohesion and a healthy lifestyle. The event provided an opportunity for the participants to connect while learning important information about nutrition and food safety. It aimed to build a sense of unity within the communities, highlighting that “healthy communities start with shared understanding and cooperation.”
This article is prepared in the scope of the “Community-based Local Initiatives Project (CLIP 2)”, co-funded by the European Union through its Humanitarian Aid Operations department (ECHO) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Its content covers humanitarian aid activities implemented with the financial assistance of the European Union and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of the commissioning parties.