More Turkish students join Africa project

Sudan is the destination for a second group of Turkish students taking part in a special humanitarian program organized by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) in cooperation with Turkish Airlines, Anadolu Agency and Turkish Radio and Television (TRT).

The 2017 Africa Experience Sharing Program will give 200 students the opportunity to visit several countries, including Tunisia, Libya, Somalia, Kenya, Algeria, Chad, Sudan, Ghana and Niger between Aug. 5 and Aug. 30.

The students will also visit Lebanon and Jordan as part of the program.

Nine NGOs are also involved in the project.

They will participate in social, cultural and humanitarian activities, renovating schools, orphanages, libraries and places of worship. They will also be involved in implementing local developmental projects.

Denizhan Ozsert, a senior student at Gazi University's Department of Political Science and Public Administration, said: "We will visit the River Nile…and local NGOs, foundations, TIKA offices, [Turkey's] embassy and an orphanage in Sudan."

They will stay in the Sudanese capital Khartoum for 10 days.

Koray Kaya, a management student at Istanbul Aydin University, saw the program as an opportunity to understand the African people. "We should visit those regions that bear the stamp of our history and feel their heartbeat," Kaya said.

In an organization related to the program last week, Serdar Cam, TIKA chairman, thanked Bilal Erdogan, deputy chairman of the Ilim Yayma Community Board of Trustees, for being the "pioneer" of the program.