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I did volunteer work for the community in the years of 1958 and 1959. I first worked at Matan Baseter Birkurholim. [27] Later on I did different jobs at the Associations of Protecting the Orphans, and Protecting the Poor, and the Kizba. [28]
When I was the Vice-President at Matan Baseter, we would determine the poor families, would do research about the ones who had applied, then we would take food and the financial aid to them. There was everything in the packages, required for a festival, at the time of the Pesah Festivals.
We would help the children of the families, who were in need, at the Association of Protecting the Orphans, in Ortakoy. Rone Somak was the president, and I was the Vice-President. Some of the families would give their Friday, Festival or family dinners here. We would meet the needs of the children, with the money we earned from these organizations. The office of the chief rabbi, would support us, whenever there was a need. Our expenses were too much. As you know, we would take care of the children in Burgaz, in the colony, in summer time [this is a place where the children are taken care of all throughout the summer, we can call it a summer camp]. This place was not chic and well equipped till now. The total number of children which was 60 in the beginning, fell to 25. Emigration to Israel played a role in this. Besides, some were old enough for marriage, and they got married. We worked for long years, till the place of the Association Protecting the Orphans was closed in Ortakoy (I don’t remember the date). They rented this place to a firm which was selling medicine supplies, for a very cheap price. Later on, the Community wanted an increase, but the other side didn’t want to increase the rent. So we ended up at court. Finally, they got out of the building. This building is still empty today. Naturally it wasn’t well kept, and now it’s old and shabby. I moved this institution with Albert Yanni, to the old building of Alliance Israelite [The old Alliance school at Yazıcı Street, a neighborhood on the European side]. The school was closed anyways. We turned the classes into dormitories. Only one or two classes were left as they were. They came to Burgaz during summer time. We gave the remaining children, who were small, to families, in exchange of their care charges. We always kept on eye on those children. We were responsible for them. The families, who were taking care of the children, both received financial and moral help. In this way, children also lived in a family atmosphere. Due to this situation existing, the institution got closed. It exists today, but I don’t know what they are doing. We took these children to a villa in Burgaz, which was donated to the institution by a citizen from our community. (We call this villa either a “summer camp” or a “colony”). We used collect money from philanthropists, in order to cover for the expenses of the place. I had put a lot of work into this issue. With this money, food for children was bought, the cook was paid, the head-mistress’s salary was paid, and the other daily expenses were paid. The head-mistress was at the same time the head-mistress of the Orphelinat, in winter. Only the head-mistress, from the personnel was Jewish. Later on, they said: “Don’t collect any money, we established a coordination, from now on, they will manage the money business”. The children of the Orphanage and the Association, of Protecting the Poor, benefited from these facilities on the island for two months. The children of the orphanage would stay in the school building, before coming to the colony, and thus get bored. They became happy in an unbelievable way when they came to the island. Every family in Burgaz would make donations here. Most of them would dine here. A lot of activities were prepared, and expenses of the place were tried to be covered in this way. Today the colony expenses is always a big problem, as everything is much more expensive. Anyways, as you know, during the last years, we also serve our old folks here. Against all the difficulties, everyone receiving service from here, is very happy.
When I was the Vice-President at Matan Baseter, we would determine the poor families, would do research about the ones who had applied, then we would take food and the financial aid to them. There was everything in the packages, required for a festival, at the time of the Pesah Festivals.
We would help the children of the families, who were in need, at the Association of Protecting the Orphans, in Ortakoy. Rone Somak was the president, and I was the Vice-President. Some of the families would give their Friday, Festival or family dinners here. We would meet the needs of the children, with the money we earned from these organizations. The office of the chief rabbi, would support us, whenever there was a need. Our expenses were too much. As you know, we would take care of the children in Burgaz, in the colony, in summer time [this is a place where the children are taken care of all throughout the summer, we can call it a summer camp]. This place was not chic and well equipped till now. The total number of children which was 60 in the beginning, fell to 25. Emigration to Israel played a role in this. Besides, some were old enough for marriage, and they got married. We worked for long years, till the place of the Association Protecting the Orphans was closed in Ortakoy (I don’t remember the date). They rented this place to a firm which was selling medicine supplies, for a very cheap price. Later on, the Community wanted an increase, but the other side didn’t want to increase the rent. So we ended up at court. Finally, they got out of the building. This building is still empty today. Naturally it wasn’t well kept, and now it’s old and shabby. I moved this institution with Albert Yanni, to the old building of Alliance Israelite [The old Alliance school at Yazıcı Street, a neighborhood on the European side]. The school was closed anyways. We turned the classes into dormitories. Only one or two classes were left as they were. They came to Burgaz during summer time. We gave the remaining children, who were small, to families, in exchange of their care charges. We always kept on eye on those children. We were responsible for them. The families, who were taking care of the children, both received financial and moral help. In this way, children also lived in a family atmosphere. Due to this situation existing, the institution got closed. It exists today, but I don’t know what they are doing. We took these children to a villa in Burgaz, which was donated to the institution by a citizen from our community. (We call this villa either a “summer camp” or a “colony”). We used collect money from philanthropists, in order to cover for the expenses of the place. I had put a lot of work into this issue. With this money, food for children was bought, the cook was paid, the head-mistress’s salary was paid, and the other daily expenses were paid. The head-mistress was at the same time the head-mistress of the Orphelinat, in winter. Only the head-mistress, from the personnel was Jewish. Later on, they said: “Don’t collect any money, we established a coordination, from now on, they will manage the money business”. The children of the Orphanage and the Association, of Protecting the Poor, benefited from these facilities on the island for two months. The children of the orphanage would stay in the school building, before coming to the colony, and thus get bored. They became happy in an unbelievable way when they came to the island. Every family in Burgaz would make donations here. Most of them would dine here. A lot of activities were prepared, and expenses of the place were tried to be covered in this way. Today the colony expenses is always a big problem, as everything is much more expensive. Anyways, as you know, during the last years, we also serve our old folks here. Against all the difficulties, everyone receiving service from here, is very happy.
Period
Location
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Türkiye
Interview
Moiz Isman