“We believe that small, positive actions make significant changes in our lives and the world,” says Mehmet Taskan, outreach representative for the Orlando Turkish Cultural Center, which opened with a big inauguration ceremony in the US last week.
Growing out of the Nile Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in 2003 to promote a better understanding of the Turkish community living in Orlando, the goal of the center is to promote intercultural relations between all people of different nations.
During the grand opening of the center, there were live Turkish music performances and traditional Turkish folk dancing, and guests were served Turkish food. The center features a ballroom named “İstanbul,” a traditional Anatolian room, classrooms, a library, a small grocery store, a play room for children, a meeting room and an office.
Among the activities the Nile Foundation has organized so far are annual dialogue dinners, dialogue nights, trips to Turkey, humanitarian work, cooking classes, local field trips, art exhibitions, community visits, Turkish language classes, food and handcraft festivals, essay contests for middle school and high school students, weekend classes and Ramadan dinners.
Facing the challenges of today's world, Taskan says they chose to contribute to solutions through dialogue and educational, cultural and humanitarian efforts. “The Nile Foundation approaches the world with realistic optimism to build a better future for tomorrow. Our main principles for dialogue are paramount to our activities and mission: Be peaceful and respectful, accept each other the way we are, engage in dialogue not debate, focus on our similarities as humans while acknowledging our differences,” he adds.
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