This e book was created by the students involved in the Mother Earth(Toprak Ana) Twinning project.

Preview audio:

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Written by F. Sibel Konca's students

Begüm T.-Defne S.

It was the last days of May. The weather was getting warmer day by day in İzmir.Students did not want to stay in the classrooms due to the hot weather. There was a short time before the start of their summer break.

The students rushed into the garden with the bell ringing. Doğa was browsing the school boards before going out to the garden. While she was examining the boards, a poster caught her attention, she saw an international camp event taking place in June. Upcycling, permaculture, compost preparation etc . in the camp workshops were taking place. Doğa was interested in such activities, she immediately read the application conditions. She received information from the Biology Teacher who organized this camp. She ran towards the garden with the excitement of the camp she was going to attend. In the garden, she found her friends Pınar, Deniz and Yaprak. She shared what she learned about the camp with them.

Written by Mite Ristov's students.

Aleksandra P.-Angela O.

Her friends were just as passionate about the well-being of the Earth, so there was no doubt that they would all be extremely excited to take place in the international camp. This one wasn’t just “a project”, this meant getting to know many things about permaculture and composting, and taking a step forward towards the wellness of the Earth, but it also meant that it included many other high schools meaning that they’ll have the chance to meet many new friends who are as interested in the permaculture and composting as them.

Full of passion, joy and excitement they took one of the papers and ran straight towards the office to find the group of teachers who organized this camp. When they arrived there, all breathless, they found their geography teacher, who fortunately was also a part of the camp. The children immediately asked him about it and told him that they would love to take place in it, and he responded with a wide smile telling them that he was amazed by how much interest they had been showing about the well-being of the Earth and about permaculture. He happily accepted their offer to be a part of the international camp and told them to get to work, because time is flying by and the day would come faster than they knew it, so not a single moment should’ve been wasted. That meant starting the projects and waiting for this exciting day to finally come.

Written by Özlem ÖZ's students.

Nazlı Hilal T.-Ramazan E.

Geography teacher Mite and Biology teacher Sibel were the founders of this camp. In fact, There are other members of the Mother Earth project in this camp. The founders of this camp and the partners of the project were also very environmentalists . Biology teachers: Özlem, Hilal, Asuman, Ayşe, the Math teacher: Patrizia, Science teacher: Şerife,Chemistry teachers: Reyhan and Nuray, the Technology teacher was Juan. In fact, there were many students from different countries, different ages and different schools among the project participants.All teachers gave information about the camp to their students. Then they gave the camp forms to their students. They asked their students to bring camp forms. Students who received their forms returned home excitedly.

Written by Asuman's students..

Arda K.-Melissa Diana G.

Everyone got positive feedbacks from their parents. Doğa's parents knew Doğa's friends' parents and they also didn't want to discourage her desire to do good things and learn new stuff. Thus they accepted it. Before going to bed Doğa messaged her friends to ask their situations. Luckily all of them were coming. She took a deep breath and started to dream about this magnificent adventure she was going to experience. From what she understood from the brochure, they were going to prepare compost, grow plants on the compost they prepared, and learn new things about permaculture. Doğa was looking forward to grow plants from the compost she prepared. After the national camp she could also use this knowledge to cultivate her and parents' food. She could almost smell the mints she was going to grow. She fell asleep as her smile reached her eyes . Everybody's excitement grew as days passed by and they made lots of research thinking, "What can we do?", "What should we do?" They were filling with happiness, knowing they were going to become a part of something that was going to heal the Earth.

Written by Hilal GÜRKAN's students

Nazar D., Berivan E.

Doğa woke up the next day with great excitement.She quickly prepared to go to school.She handed over the camp's application form to her teacher.Her friends also delivered their forms.

Their teacher said to the children:

-Yes, the date we will go to the camp has been determined.

Doğa was even more excited to hear this. Pınar immediately spoke.

-Really? my teacher.

-Mite: Yes guys, we will leave at 11 o'clock on Friday evening.

The students run towards their class. They shouted "the expected day had come.Everyone had packed their bags" in the class.

The days passed quickly.All students gathered at school on Friday morning to go to the camp site.They got on the bus with their teacher.They sang songs during the journey.

After a fun journey, they arrived at the campsite.When they got off the bus, they saw the students from other schools were coming to the camp area.They were very excited to meet other person.

Written by REYHAN AY's students Rabiya M. and Ece K.

Doğa and her friends were very happy to attend this camp. They were very excited that they were going to learn new informations. They had already done a lot of research on permaculture and compost before coming to this camp. They were curious about what the students from foreign countries knew about this subject and they were eager to meet their new friends.

Luckily, they met with Italian, Macedonian, Spanish students at the dinner table. It was a table where students from 4 different countries came together. During the meal, they chatted a lot, got to know each other, shared their research on permaculture and compost with each other. This camp brought together students who were truly environmentally conscious.

They met with their teachers after dinner. They made the assessment of the day. They were all very happy. Their teachers thanked them for being so harmonious on the first day of the camp. He said that the main purpose of this camp is to protect our world. He stated that it is not possible for them to achieve this alone, and positive results can be obtained if all countries act together. Therefore, he emphasized the importance of coming together with different cultures and finding solutions together.

They knew they had to rest, as they were going to do a lot of work tomorrow. They wished their friends good night and went to their tent. They had told each other that they had no sleep, but as soon as they put their heads on the pillow, they fell asleep.

NURAY SÖZER

Written by Nuray Sözer's students

İrem C.-Nazar D.

Finally the day had come. Doğa and her friends woke up with great joy. They were going to compost today, They were very excited about it. Their teachers told them how to do it. Teachers took the students to the nature to compost and told them to compost from natural waste materials. Doğa and her friends quickly discussed what to put in their compost and dispersed to gather compost material. Doğa and her friends quickly discussed what to put in their compost and dispersed to gather compost material.

One of the students was putting the lemon peel from the camp waste into his compost, which Doğa noticed. She reminded that lemon peel, which is acidic, should not be included in the compost because it was explained in chemistry class that lemon is citric acid between pH 2-3. Her friend noticed the situation and did not put the lemon peel in his compost. Nature and her friends had finished their compost. Next was to hold the composts and watch them to form. At the end of the day, they fell into a deep sleep with the happy tiredness of their work and the effect of clear and clean air.

Written by Patrizia Sgro's students

Alessandra V.-Chiara T.

The students woke up to the day happily.They prepared their compost one day ago.They talked about what activities they will do today for breakfast. After breakfast, the teachers in the camp gathered their students.

The campsite was close to the beach.The weather was also very hot.The teachers had decided to take them to the sea for the students to cool off and have fun.

The teachers told their students "Put on your swimsuits and take your towels.We are going to beach".They were be happy.

Written by Şerife Kınık's students

Özgür K.-Ayşe Y.

When they came to the beach, the first thing that caught Doğa's attention was the trash on the beach. Doğa was both surprised and upset by the insensitivity of humans.

-Hey friends! There are too much trash in the beach right?

Deniz:

-Yes, you're right Doğa. What can we do with these trash?

Pınar:

-I think we can add organic waste and paper to our compost.

Their teachers, upon these conversations,

- We liked your idea very much. We can use some of these wastes from our compost. Thus, our compost will be enriched in content. We can throw the other garbage into the recycling bin.

After getting the approval of the teachers, they all start collecting the garbage on the beach.

Written by Ayşe ORHAN's students.

Ezgi Su O.-Sevval A.

The students split into groups and started collecting

garbage. Group 1 collected the papers. Group 2 collected

food waste and organic waste. Group 3 collected plastic

and glass bottles.

Then they went to the campsite and added the collected papers and organic waste to the compost. Deniz, Doğa and Pınar put plastic and glass bottles in the recycling bin. Their compost was better now. They had also cleaned the beach. In the evening, they realized that they were tired. However, they were very happy with their work.

Written by

JUAN MANUEL CARDEÑOSA TORRES's students

Alejandro P.-Carmen Maria Pino P.

The days followed each other.For a week, all students attended workshops in the camp.Sometimes they got tired and sometimes they had a lot of fun.However, they completed all their work with together.Friendships were established between all teachers and students in the camp.

On the last day of the camp, students packed their tents.The students gave each other their phone numbers and addresses.They hugged each other.They agreed to come back to the camp next year.They said that they will apply what they learned in the camp in the city where they live and share their photos.

Doğa and her friends' bus had arrived.They got on their bus and waved to their friends in other schools.After a pleasant and tiring camp, most of the students fell asleep on the bus.