Helping Hands: Our Stories, Part Three
I am from Turkey but spent many years teaching maths in Tajikistan. Tajikistan gained independence in 1992 after a long civil war that made the country very poor. It was not until 2004 that Tajikistan could participate in international events. In 2004, my colleagues and I made a proposal to the Ministry of Education to join the International Mathematics Olympiad as a team from Tajikistan. It is the world’s most prestigious Math Olympiad.
In 2009 we were preparing for our trip to our fifth Math Olympiad, in the middle of a hot, suffocating July. The event was being held in Bremen, Germany. We had never received any medals yet, but I had dreamt that my students would make history in Tajikistan by winning silver medals that summer.
During the competition, one of my students solved a problem differently from the proposed method – in math equations you can follow different steps and still find the same result. I needed to negotiate hard about this with the jury members, but luckily we received the due points.
On the day of the awards ceremony I was feeling like a flying bird! I was very impatient and time was not passing! We did not know if the final markings would be enough to award my students the points needed for a medal. But there they were! We became the first team in Tajikistan to gain a silver medal in the International Math Olympiad!
I am an asylum seeker here in the UK. I came to Newcastle on the 6th of February 2020. This year has been the hardest year of my life. Before arriving here I had a very active life as a successful maths teacher. I still want to teach and contribute but I am unable to do that while my case is pending. I have also been very sad because I was separated from my family. I left my wife with four children in a country that they do not know themselves. To add to these problems, COVID-19 started and turned everything upside down. The asylum cases had to be “frozen” during that time. For the first three months of the lockdown I became ill and lost the will and taste of life. During these days I couldn’t sleep at night thinking about my family. After a while, I realised I needed to do something to keep me busy and make the days less unbearable. I decided to learn a new computer language, and started studying an average of six hours per day for the past seven months. I learned a lot of new things during this time and I started feeling better because I was doing something useful for my future. Instead of staying in the darkness I tried to light a candle for my life and brighten up my future.
After I arrived in the North East, I was connected to The Comfrey Project. I was feeling alone so I wanted to socialise. I have personally taken part in many volunteer activities throughout my life and I saw The Comfrey Project was offering the same opportunities for asylum seekers and refugees, so I liked it a lot. Everyday before lockdown I would come to the centre and spend all day volunteering and sharing stories with new friends. I met a lot of new people; those were wonderful days. It made me so happy to participate and to integrate to the UK. I enjoyed the art and cultural activities.
During the time that I was unwell in the lockdown, I received many phone calls from Comfrey staff and volunteers and flowers that I will never forget. It was all making me better and I was getting my will and taste of life back. This organisation is a guide for doing good things for the community. I left my family in another country but I found another family here, The Comfrey Project. The Comfrey Project became like my home.
I will try my best to work and gain my normal life back and in the future I want to work and donate to The Comfrey Project.
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Aslen Turkiyedenim. Tacikistan’da uzun yıllar matematik öğretmenliği yaptım. Tacikistan, ülkeyi çok fakirleştiren uzun bir iç savaşın ardından 1992 yılında bağımsızlığını kazandı. Tacikistan uluslararasi matematik olimpiyatina 2004 yilina kadar katilmamişti. 2004’te arkadaslarimlar beraber Tacikistan’dan bir ekip olarak Uluslararası
Matematik Olimpiyatına katılma konusunda Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı’na bir teklifte bulunduk.
Burada Birleşik Krallık’ta bir sığınmacıyım. 6 Şubat 2020de Newcastle’a geldim. Bu yıl hayatımın en zor yılıydı. Buraya gelmeden önce başarılı bir matematik öğretmeni olarak çok aktif bir hayatım vardı. Bir şeyler öğretmek ve yapmak istedim ama sığınmacı olarak ailemden ayrı olduğum için çok üzüldüm. Eşimi dört çocuğuyla kendilerini tanımadıkları bir ülkede bıraktım. Bu sorunların yanı sıra COVID-19 başladı ve her şeyi alt üst etti. Karantina gunlerinde yaklaşık üç ay hastalandım ve iyilesmem bayagi vakit aldi. Ayni zamanda ailemi de dusunuyordum. Birkaç ay sonra beni meşgul edecek ve günleri daha az çekilmez kılacak bir şeyler yapmam gerektiğini düşündüm. Yedi ay boyunca günde ortalama altı saat çalışarak yeni bir bilgisayar dili öğrenmeye karar verdim. Bu kurs sırasında birçok yeni şey öğrendim ve daha iyi hale geldim çünkü meşguldüm ve geleceğim için faydalı bir şeyler yapmaya calisiyordum. Bu zor gunleri en faydali sekilde gecirmeye calisiyordum.
North East sehrine geldikten sonra sonra Comfrey Projesi’ne gidip gelmeye basladim. Kendimi yalnız hissediyordum, bu yüzden sosyalleşmek ve yeni insanlarla konuşmak istedim. Hayatım boyunca pek çok gönüllü faaliyete şahsen katıldım, böylece Comfrey Projesi’nin aynı şeyi yaptığını ogrenmem iyi oldu ve onlarin aktivitelerinde yer almak istedim. Comfrey Projecte geliyor yeni arkadaslar ediniyor ve basimizdan gecen olaylari ve nicin siginmaci oldugumu anlatmaya calsiyordum. Birçok yeni insanla tanıştım; Harika günlerdi. Ingiltereye entegre olmak dilimi gelistirmek icin Comfrey Project guzel bir firsatti.. Sanat ve kültür faaliyetlerine katiliyor ve hoslaniyordum. Yukarda bahsetmistim 3 ay kadar hasta olduğum süre boyunca Comfreynin gonullulerinden çok sayıda telefon aldim ve asla unutamayacağım hediyeler ve çiçekler aldım. Comfreyin beni dusunmesi ve benim icin birseyler yapmasi ben cok mutlu edtti.
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The Helping Hands campaign was organised by a group of Comfrey volunteers who wished to share glimpses of stories that inspired them during the past year. Stories that highlight challenges, hopes and dreams unique to refugees, and others which are shared amongst humans regardless of background. A crowd-funding campaign has been created alongside this effort, in order to raise funds for The Comfrey Project to help us repair our polytunnel at the Windmill Hills garden and raise security on the site.