The goal of this year’s pilot project was to encourage our students to get out of their comfort zones and be closer to the nature they form a part of. Since we had a lot to gain from this project, we decided to give something back by restoring the old school building in Kılıçlı and making it into a Cultural Center. Throughout the camp, students tried to adapt to life in the village under the guidance of their teachers Aylin Demirhan, Rachel Litwak, Mehmet Cemil and James Farley.
The daily program included many activities such as waking up with the sun and working in the garden, milking cows, taking walks in the forest, getting to know the village children and working actively in the restoration of the unused old school building. The students cooked their own meals by putting together what they harvested from the garden, they picked pears to make molasses, rolled out dough to make mantı, picked eggs from the chickenshed and boiled them, and cleaned up after each meal. While some students used a rotary hoe, some weeded the soil because no herbicides are used; some dug holes as others planted cabbage.
The restoration of the Cultural Center building continues at a fast pace. At the end of the project, the children will have a place to get help for their homework, women will be able to get together and learn from each other and the building can also be used to give conferences to the village people and hold discussions.
Students easily got accustomed to using gardening tools, living with the farm animals and the insects in the village, composting organic waste, and putting the chickens into the shed by sunset. They also became acclimated to the silence of nature by day, waking up with the sun, the green of Black Sea and the Sinop accent. They started planning next year’s camp before this year’s was over.
We aim for our project to develop into an SAC tradition under the leadership of our students.