This luminous Turkish newlywed spent her wedding day running
a bread line for thousands of starving Syrian refugees.
A couple in Turkey swapped out lavish nuptials with their
friends and family for the bread line with thousands of Syrian refugees.
Last Thursday, Fethullah Üzümcüoğlu and Esra Polat doled out
food to 4,000 Syrian refugees for their wedding reception on the border town of
Kilis. The bride wore an elaborate white dress, with a tiara perched on her
headdress, and the groom sported a white tuxedo with black trim. They stood
behind large food trucks distributing meals to hungry Syrians. The couple had
decided that instead of hosting their friends and family for a traditional
banquet reception, they would feed the victims of a bloody civil war next door.
The idea came from the groom’s father, who volunteers for a
Turkish relief organization called Kimse Yok Mu (KYM). For the past few years,
KYM has distributed daily meals to the thousands of impoverished Syrians who’ve
flooded across the nearby border. He approached a representative of the organization
and proposed that the family would cover part of the costs of feeding refugees
for the day (the family did not want to reveal the exact cost).
“I thought that sharing a big delicious dinner with our
family and friends was unnecessary, knowing that there are so many people in
need living next door,” he told the Independent blog i100.
Then he told his son, who was surprised by the prospect, but
soon won over.
“When he told that to the bride she was really shocked
because, you can imagine, as a bride you wouldn’t think about this—it’s all
about you and your groom,” says Hatice Avci, the international communications
manager for KYM. “In southeastern Turkey there is a real culture of sharing
with people in need …They love to share their food, their table, everything
they have. That’s why the bride also accepted. And afterwards she was quite
amazed about it.”
So, they arrived at KYM’s distribution center on Thursday to
spend the day serving food and taking photographs with their grateful
recipients. “Hopefully this will also give the start for other wedding dinners
to be held here with our brothers in Syria,” the groom told local news.
Kilis has been a central crossing point for the flood of
Syrians arriving in Turkey. The city’s official population is 108,000, but it
hosts 123,000 Syrians. Early on, it was set up with a camp with containers for
temporary shelter, but many refugees live in the urban areas where access to
humanitarian assistance can be unreliable. The number of Syrians now living in
Turkey is nearing 2 million, and in July, the government announced it would
build a new refugee camp in Kilis to handle the influx.
On Tuesday evening, the newly married couple were still
pleased with their decision to forsake a personal celebration for one with a
greater good. “It’s like sharing a dinner with your friends and family who have
this kind of thing on a daily basis—or sharing something with people who don’t
even have the most basic things,” Avci says. She had just gotten off the phone
with the couple before speaking to The Daily Beast. “He told me that the best
moment of his wedding was when they had the food distribution.”
Via : www.thedailybeast.com