August 25, 2017•Update: August 28, 2017
By Addis Getachew
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
Ten university students from Turkey who have been in Ethiopia for a week of voluntary work concluded their trip on Friday after a guided tour to Ayka textiles -- a huge factory that employs 7,000 Ethiopian workers on the outskirts of the capital Addis Ababa.
The students had the opportunity to get first-hand experience of what TIKA -- the Turkish Coordination and Cooperation Agency -- has been doing in Africa, said its Addis Ababa coordinator, Fazil Akin Erdogan.
The 2017 Africa Experience Sharing Program has seen 200 students visit several African countries, including Tunisia, Libya, Somalia, Kenya, Algeria, Chad, Sudan, Ghana and Niger from Aug. 5 to 30.
The program was organized by TIKA in cooperation with Turkish Airlines, Anadolu Agency and state broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television (TRT).
Students participated in social, cultural and humanitarian activities, renovating schools, orphanages, libraries and places of worship as predetermined by TIKA and local NGOs in the countries being visited.
They also took part in the implementation of local development projects.
“Ethiopia provided a special place to visit for the Turkish students, for the capital city Addis Ababa is regarded as the capital city of Africa,” Erdogan told Anadolu Agency. “This is an ideal place to have an Africa experience.”
“The highlight of the students’ visit has been their trip to the northern region of Tigray, where they visited one of the first mosques in the world -- Nejashi, a mosque that has been renovated and restored by TIKA,” he said.
According to one of the students in the group, the visit to Ethiopia gave them an “exotic experience.”
“I had felt anxious about coming here; now I feel proud to be part of the group in view of the many places we have been able to visit, including Turkish projects in Africa,” Taha Fahmi told Anadolu Agency.
