Phillip and Rebecca Mefford

Benim Adım Gül My Name is Rose Gül is a big girl now. At six and a half she is going to school, a great outlet for her social side. Until last September Gül spent her days with her mom and baby sister. If it was warm enough outside they would go to the park or play in the garden with the other neighbor girls her age. When she’s home Gül loves visitors—especially the foreigner couple who moved in upstairs a year and a half ago. They can’t understand most of the things she says to them, but she can get them to laugh anyway with her silly antics. Her favorite things to do with her foreigner friends are play beauty shop or sing them the songs she learns at school. Sometimes Gül’s mom makes her stop playing with the foreigners so they can talk about grown up stuff over tea, but most of the time she wins everyone’s attention. A special day for Gül this year was Children’s Day, April 23rd. When Atatürk founded the nation he gave this holiday as a gift to children, the future of Turkey. She st

Benim Adım Cem My Name is Cem Cem just graduated from university and is getting ready for askerlik , military duty. All male Turkish citizens have compulsory non-paid military service, and while Cem normally would have had to serve as a private for fifteen months, having earned a university degree reduces the time required of him to six months. He spent four years living in a dormitory, studying at İstanbul University, in the last year dating a beautiful Turkish girl, and meeting people from all walks of life, including a young couple of Americans with whom he could practice his English. Now that the graduation celebrations have come to an end, it’s time to go to his hometown in central Turkey and prepare for duty. Serving in the military is seen as a right of passage for Turkish men; because of this, Cem’s parents are planning a big farewell celebration. There will be a feast, traditional music and dancing, and a tray of henna, a plant-based dye the soldier-to-be will dip his little

Benim Adım Nurcan My Name is Nurcan Nurcan goes to church on Sundays instead of mosque on Fridays. She decided to be Christian in her early adult years, which has baffled most of her family and friends. Some Turkish Christians have Greek Orthodox or Syrian Christian backgrounds which makes sense, but for a Muslim person to choose a different religion is almost unthinkable. Although her family still accepts her into their home, they are hoping she is just going through a phase. Though bold in making such an independent decision, Nurcan has quite an unassuming personality. She works at a menial job to help the income flow of her family, fills cupboards with things her and her mother have knitted to pass the time together, makes a mean cup of Turkish coffee, and has a secret enthusiasm for cute clothes. She met an American girl, and even though their worlds seem so far apart, Nurcan wants to be her friend. Even though she has less education, less money, and knows the difficulties of being

Benim Adım Kemal My Name is Kemal Kemal works hard with little pay, but at least he has a job.* In İstanbul instead of going to the nearest Goodwill or Value Village people either leave their old junk out by the dumpster for Gypsies to take or they give it to a guy like Kemal who works as an eskici, what we might call a ‘junker.’ Every day he roams around the neighborhood, pushing a large wooden cart, calling out “eskici!” After a full day of collecting, he somehow turns the scraps of useless items into an income for himself and the young wife his parents back home in the village found for him. Most Turkish men in İstanbul work 12 or more hours per day, six days a week, and many have a reason to feel unhappy with this necessity, but Kemal always has a smile on his face and a positive attitude. Being in charge of his own schedule, when the call to prayer sounds, he can take time out to go to the mosque if he wants to. Also, he gets many opportunities to socialize with other men in the c