Turkish Night

As many volunteers in SFERA are currently from Turkey, we decided a great event would be a ‘Turkish Night’. As North Macedonia and Turkey share a history and have influenced each other in many ways – people are normally familiar with Turkey, however there is much more to our culture than is known through the history books and impacts made hundreds of years back. We decided to show our culture by preparing traditional dishes including: Dolma, Muhallebi, Kısır,Tavuk göğüsü, Sigara böreği, Baklava, and other sweets. We also made a playlist for the event that highlighted Turkish songs that tied into the culture, both historically and modern. Many people showed up, not only from North Macedonia, but from many different places around the world.

After a welcome speech, we showed a promotional video about Turkey that highlighted some natural and man-made wonders of the country. We also played a quiz with the audience about Turkish history and culture. It was a huge hit with everyone getting involved! We were surprised with the amount of questions people got right. Of course the winner of the quiz got to indulge in some Pişhmaniye. After the quiz we had a belly dancer come up and perform for the crowd to show them this cultural part of Turkey. She danced to two songs, showing two different styles with grace and poise. The people have taken photos on the one hand while was make conversations with others.

After the dancer finished, the participants of the event dug into the delicious food, no leftovers tonight! Also, the people learned more traditional dances from us Turkish Volunteers. It was a grand night and so much fun to share our culture with the place that has given us so much through volunteering here. The atmosphere of the event was one of happiness, learning, and cultural exchange. If you want to be informed about events like these in the future make sure to follow us on social media through Facebook and Instagram!