Turks Without Borders –– A Volunteering Experience

I usually write about data science in my blogs, whether that's recent projects I've been working on, goals I've been attempting to reach, or facts I've learned along the way. Today, however, I want to share something a bit different.

Throughout this year, I've been volunteering online every week for "Turks Without Borders," an organization that works to accelerate the English-learning process of students in Turkey by connecting them directly to American students. Each week, for an hour, our larger group of students come together on Zoom with a list of questions to facilitate conversation. We each are assigned a partner––which, in my case, is a student living in Turkey––and given time to speak with each other.

I was very excited to join this organization, given my Turkish background and understanding of the struggles that come with learning either language. Even so, during my first couple weeks of volunteering with Turks Without Borders, the interactions sometimes felt a bit awkward. My partners were almost always a bit younger than me, and at times conversations felt a bit more back-and-forth than realistic. However, after just a few weeks of warming up to the Turkish students, I started talking with them like I would any close friend.

After many months of volunteering, I can see the students I've worked with speak English with much more confidence, attempting to convey longer stories or even try out American slang. I even feel as though they are friends of mine––speaking with them is no longer just answering prompts, but straying from them entirely, laughing about our experiences, and even sparking debates. They no longer hesitate to ask what something means, and we are happy to answer every time. Through this simple organization––which I at first believed was simply having conversations with students across the globe––I have made real friends, felt more connected to my own culture, and taken pride at sharing my

own language with learners.

I urge everyone to separate just a bit of time each week (I promise it's possible) for volunteer work. The wholesome feeling that comes from unpaid, genuine interaction is like nothing else.