Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
They worked in pursuit of a better tomorrow
Through their efforts, they contributed to the lives of others
They empowered others, creating new opportunities and hope.
They spent their days for the sake of this purpose,
without any expectation of honor or praise.
They never relinquished their faith that tomorrow could be better.
And they never gave up.
"Turkey's Changemakers" is looking for people who make a difference in others lives
from all across Turkey.
Sabancı Foundation's "Turkey's Changemakers" begins.
Dear viewers, welcome to a new Turkey's Changemakers.
We are here with yet another heroic story to share with you.
You don't need to look far to find modern heroes and
you don't need to make their statues.
You don't need to compare them
with those who have won wars.
The heroes may actually be close to you,
maybe even sitting next to you, living in the same neighbourhood,
but you just haven't notice them yet.
Changemakers are not necessarily out to "save the world"
or win big wars.
There are the heroic stories that we like to share with you here.
These people struggle for people living in Turkey and
they put in there all for the cause they believe in.
Mehmet Selim Baki used to be an architect.
He worked hard until it was time for him to retire.
After retiring, he put architecture aside and decided to do something
other than being the average retiree
instead, he set forth on an important mission.
He loves children.
He has tried to make a difference in their lives by
bringing children together with musical instruments.
Thanks to him, children who had never seen a musical instrument before,
now own instruments.
It's really doesn't take much to be a hero actually.
From a place that was turned from a coal cellar into a study room,
a hero's story arises and becomes a legend.
The sound of accordions flows
from a basement to fill the streets of Edirnekapı, İstanbul.
The little children of Edirnekapı's neighborhoods
are the ones that give life to those sounds.
By touching the keys on the accordion, they bring their fairy tales to life.
This is a basement apartment in Edirnekapı.
In fact 4 years ago
this place was totally empty,
but today it is a lively music studio
where children's dreams are brought to live through the sound of music.
Edirnekapı is a part of İstanbul
where the income of the families are lower
but the rates of brith are high.
And these small children find themselves on the street
once they are out of school.
However,
for those who want to change their "blind destiny",
there is a chance to take a different path.
Mehmet Selim Baki is spent many years
in Turkey and Germany
signing off on many projects
until he decided it was time to retire.
And so, he decided to spend his retirement time on children.
He thought that the flute was not enough
as the only instrument schools taught to children.
He thought that it would benefit children of less fortunate families
to have a better music education.
And then he chose a basement room as the
start up of his project "Music for Peace".
- Doing something that involved music, peace and children
was always a dream of mine.
We've been here for over 4 years, we came across this opportunity here.
This really is all for peace.
It's not just a music education program, it carries an ideology.
Peace and justice stand behind our idea and project.
That is how we named our project.
Mehmet Selim Baki started his "Music for Peace" project
by purchasing accordions.
His purpose was to give children basic musical training so that
they can play an instrument that can be played everywhere.
However, even though he had acquired the instruments,
it wasn't easy for him to find the children.
- I had a dream of forming my own band for peace.
The specialty of the band was that it consisted of instruments
that could be carried everywhere and make a lot of sound.
The accordion in some ways is a sample of such an instrument.
It has all these characteristics.
You know the accordion,
with one hand you control the rhythm with the other you push it in and out,
it's an instrument that can be played anywhere.
It can be carried on the street and that's very important.
The hardest part is starting,
and finding a student.
The students have to come from families with a low incomes.
We made many different attempts to find them.
We seemed to be stuck and then
with the help of our friend
Yusuf Kulca at the Hope Children Foundation, we found this school.
This is the perfect neighborhood for our project.
We started here about 4.5 years ago
and today we have activities in 3 different schools.
Mehmet Selim Baki started giving children music education
by turning the school's basement into a musical workshop.
He has created a healthy atmosphere for music education.
He pays for all the expenses including the teachers.
When everything was ready,
he whispered the notes into the children's ears.
The Music for Peace project is
currently under way in 3 schools
in the Edirnekapı region.
Since its start, about 300 children
have been introduced to the rhythm of music.
The classes are after school hours
and it is totally free.
There are four fully paid teachers and many volunteer teachers
trying to open new doors to other worlds for these children.
- You three, start.
- We have classes five days a week.
Currently we have classes every day at Ulubatlı Hasan Elemantary School.
After school we try to work
till about 5 pm.
The children are quite comfortable.
They are not forced to come everyday, they can have their own system.
I try to teach note reading in the simplest form possible.
They are immediately introduced to an instrument
from the moment they arrive.
Without delay we tell them what the instrument is about
and try to connect them to the instrument.
Without delay, we take the notes for the accordion
and immediately start the training.
We are really trying to the best
we can in the best way we know how.
There are many aspects of the work we do.
There is a huge difference in the self confidence of children
from the day they arrive until after they've completed the classes.
Of course these are only the changes that can be seen.
In the end, the children seem to find
some sort of mission by coming here and
learning to play the accordion.
They know that they are doing this for peace and
in time we are attempting to develop their awareness.
This in itself is a huge change.
- My friends were coming here and I was curious.
I was in the 5th grade when I came for the first time.
I couldn't get used to it at first, I couldn't press the buttons of the accordion.
But I wanted to try again,
because all my friends were here.
Later on I tried again and succeeded.
Currently I am studying at the music conservatory, I play the viola and accordion.
- We don't select our students.
This is definitely not a project where we search for talent.
We are trying to put "a drop in the ocean".
These children need to have access
to their democratic rights, rights to have music education.
Although, we don't select them by talent per se, there are extremely talented kids who stand out.
We try to assess them separately.
With our "Music for Peace" project we are trying
to help children find a path and make important life decisions.
While some children consider music as just a hobby,
for some it is more. This project helped them
get into academies and be trained professionally.
- I first came here 4 years ago. I was 10 years old
and had started with the accordion.
I have played rhythm instruments since I was 3-4.
I like percussion.
I started with the accordion now.
They taught me how to read notes.
A workshop to learn how to read music
started at Muallim Naci Elementary School.
Now I give music reading and accordion classes there.
Now I have my own students...
Before coming here, we would be on the streets,
playing football and doing other things outside...
But now we are quite disciplined.
We've learned how to work,
and plan what will might do later on in life.
Life is much better this way...
The change in these children also affects their families.
The families were reluctant at first, not really understanding
the purpose of the course but now they realize
the huge difference it has made in their lives.
- Nazmi started when he was ten years old,
he's been coming for about 3-4 years.
We are very happy with the outcome..
This is a great opportunity to get them off the streets
where they would just hang out and do nothing.
The children are learning good things here.
Nazmi is a calm child, very smart
but a calm and respectful child.
We would have never thought of him turning out like this,
he has changed and now he is studying at the conservatory.
It's amazing.
They had an exam and he got a perfect score, he got 100 points
and of course we were extremely happy.
- I remember as a child having a lot of interest in music.
I still am very interested, I love music.
When I was young, at school recitals I would always sing
Turkish Classical Music Songs.
My family wasn't interested much in the beginning.
And now that my daughter is getting this education,
what can I say, I'm happy and I see myself in her.
Would you like your child to attend the conservatory in the future?
Of course I would. Whichever branch it may be,
whichever music type it may be,
I would love her to get that education.
Her father and I support her fully.
We want her to study at the conservatory and we want her
to have access to opportunities that we never had a chance to have.
We are so grateful to Mehmet Baki
and the other teachers for giving us such an opportunity.
Until recently these children were on the streets with no sense of being.
But now they have paths for their future paved with notes.
By giving life to the instruments they play,
they understand that music education is is so much more.
Everyone is surprised at this change in children.
As for Mehmet Selim Baki,
he is continuously surprised at others' surprise!
"sol mi si la sol, music for peace is starting"
- For some reason people find it hard to believe
that someone could want to do something
and not expectianything in return.
I sense that surprise when I tell them what I am doing.
Yet I feel that this is the biggest legacy we can pass on to our children.
Instead of having one or two extra homes, I take more pleasure
in realizing this project and leaving this legacy behind.
People need to look at it that way.
If we want to live in peace, tranquility,
we have to do something about it.
I think that everyone in this unjustworld
has to be able to do something to give back.
Every year, Deutsche Bank in Germany gives an award
to the most successful social responsibility projects.
This year Mehmet Selim Baki was honored
with the "Urban Age Award" from Deutsche Bank.
He however, does not search for those awards from others.
He searches for them in the fingers of his little students
and doesn't limit his dreams to just the keys of the accordion.
- This is the first school we started with.
There used to be a music room upstairs, we used to work up there.
Later on when the school changed its heating to natural gas,
this coal chamber room became empty, it's quite big.
So we moved there. We put in small working cabinets,
a solfegé class, and repair room.
We have similar set ups in a third school.
In the second school such an opportunity was not available,
we had no space.
In the third school, the Muallim Naci Elementary School
there is a studio just like the one you see here.
Until now, all the expenses have come out of my personal savings.
Hopefully I will be able to establish a foundation soon.
After the foundation is established, I do not want
the children to be limited. I want all the children to be able to grow
as much as they can without any barriers.
My true desire is that instead of donations,
for people to share their desire and know how
in working in this project.
Our dream is to spread this throughout the country
and raise social awareness.
Mehmet Selim Baki chose to live his retirement
not slipping away from life but instead helping to bring new lives.
His Music for Peace project and brought soul to the children through music.
Starting off in a little room in a basement, he has touched the lives of hundreds of children.
He made a huge difference in the lives of children and their families.
Today we had a chance to hear Mehmet Selim Baki's story.
It's a joyfull story.
It's a story that inspires people for not to just sit and solve puzzles
during their retirement days.
If you believe there are changemakers around you,
in a short while we will tell you
how you can participate in Turkey's Changemakers program.
Dear viewers, we are here in the Seed Room
of the Sabanci Musuem.
I don't know if you have ever seen this place but,
it should be in architecture literature
and we have the great pleasure of filming our program from here.
If you believe there are Changemakers close by,
please go to our website (www.farkyaratanlar.org)
and fill out the application form.
Or if you don't have access to internet,
however, there are over 29 million internet users in Turkey,
then all you have to do is call us at 0212 249 23 14,
our friends will tell you what you need to do to participate.
Until the next episode of "Turkey's Changemakers",
I'm Cüneyt Özdemir, wishing you a good evening.
They worked in pursuit of a better tomorrow
Through their efforts, they contributed to the lives of others
They empowered others, creating new opportunities and hope.
They spent their days for the sake of this purpose,
without any expectation of honor or praise.
They never relinquished their faith that tomorrow could be better.
And they never gave up.
"Turkey's Changemakers" is looking for people who make a difference in others lives
from all across Turkey.