Courtesy of Danielle Langloism, Wikipedia CCLRevitalizing Rural Turkey
Rifat Sahin is a teacher who left his village behind and moved to the city to teach. After 28 years, he and his wife decided to return and begin life anew in his home village of Deresemsettin, Bilecik, Turkey.
The Sahins refurbished the house left Rifat by his father. They pursued gaining assistance in a walnut tree planting project and obtained permission to plant 1000 trees in 2005. They have continued the 1000 tree planting every year and encouraged other villagers to also rebuild agriculture in the area.
But in 2006, Sahin became interested in goats, Saanen goats. He did some research and approached authorities about backing a Saanen – Anatolian cross breeding goat program. He was given approval for the project but it took him another year to raise the funds to implement his ideas. Ultimately, the Bilecik governor matched his investment and the project was begun.
But it’s not just a matter of bringing Swiss goats to Turkey. What the Sahins have done is renew interest in village life and agriculture. Their journey has brought more people back to the village; more people to tend goats and make cheese. Aptly put by Sahin’s wife, Emel, in the story found in Today’s Zaman, “…We are teachers, we need to be the leaders of society — let’s rebuild this home. Let’s turn on a light here.”
