The Kitchen

I visited the Kitchen this weekend, it was very different experience for me. Those of you who doesn't know the Kitchen I added the link below. In that post, I would like to share my experience with you because this topic is really related to what we have covered till today. The Migrant Solidarity Network has established the Kitchen. All Saturdays it serves meal to different migrant groups. It does not seek any profit and it pays its expenses by organizing some events. First of all I would like to tell my feelings about our experience rather than just saying what happened in there. While going the Kitchen I was very nervous about being in Tarlabaşı because of negative news that we heard from news previously. However, when I went there, my discontent turned into excitement. I have met lots of native children from Tarlabaşı. They are very different from us in terms of of their speech, behavior and culture. I met two black Nigerian guy Stephan and Eddie. I ashamed of myself for naming them as a black. Although I am a humanitarian, there have always been a stereotype against black people especially when we see them in Tarlabaşı or other places like that. Now, I think I am much more unbiased towards them. When I talked with Stephan and Eddie, we talked about drawbacks of being migrant in İstanbul. They told me that although they are like family with people in Tarlabaşı, they have faced some stereotypes outside Tarlabası. He said sometimes others look (and treat) them as if they are drug dealer or criminal. Eddie and Stephan are close friends and they earn money from R&B dancing although they studied management in Nigeria. The Kitchen helps them to form a big community. Despite their differences, people finds some similarities among them, at least they are sharing the food. It provides people warm environment and creates solidarity. Not only the migrants are different from each other but also volunteers itself come from very different backgrounds. For example, there was a volunteer who comes to study here from Germany. (She told me that Turkish people in Germany are alienated from society as we have talked in class. Although the second generation speaks German as their native language, they are excluded just because their names are Turkish.) Other volunteer works in THY as a customs officer. They have one thing in common which is sense of responsibility towards alienated people in society. It was very different experience . At first, being there was just a mandatory course responsibility for me but it was very amazing to be there. I promised the chef that I will visit them again and actually I will (I hope to see you there). 

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