Turkish aid agency reaches out to 5 continents in 2018

- Aids in Africa TIKA restored Algeria's historic Ketchaoua Mosque -- which dates back to the Ottoman rule in the 17th century and symbol of the country's independence -- in the capital Algiers. It provided Aysel and Serif Findikkaya Complex in camps of Dabaab, a town in north eastern Kenya, with equipment. A group of 14 medical students, who went to Kenya via Experience Sharing Program of the agency, performed medical examination of 2,000 children. TIKA also equipped an orphanage in West Africa which hosts 216 girls in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. It provided a cookery, service and housekeeping training for the staff of Africa Union summit held on July 1-2 in Mauritania, a northwestern Africa country. The agency distributed wheelchairs for two-hundred disabled people in East African country Comoros, while 1,100 families in Mauritania were supplied with food aid. As part of agency projects, a modern water well -- opened in Cameroon, a Central Africa country -- provided around 1,000 people with potable water. TIKA also aided many families in Ben Arous city of Tunisia, a North African country, when their houses and shops were damaged due to flood. It also renovated the Al-Nejashi mosque, the tomb of the Abyssinian King Ahmed Nejashi, and 15 tombs of the companions of Prophet Muhammad in East African country of Ethiopia. - Key facilities supported in Latin America TIKA supported the renovation and renewal works of the As-Salam mosque serving Muslim minority in Santiago, the capital of Chile. TIKA also renovated the hospital's newborn unit and rearranged the environment and landscape setting of the Arte Fuego art school. It provided a nursing home in Brazil with maintenance works and equipment. It provided medical equipment for a maternal and child hospital in Venezuela, including five incubators, two beds with radiant heaters, and two phototherapy units. Dr. Ricardo Gutierrez Children's Hospital in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires benefitted an equipment support of TIKA, while Paraguay received ambulance and wheelchair support. - Turkish-style development model in the Balkans TIKA carried out extensive restoration work on Ottoman heritage in the Balkans as well as implementing development and aid projects. One of its biggest project was the restoration of the historic Sokullu Mehmet Pasha Bridge in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the tenth year of Kosovo's independence, the Ardhmeria Kindergarten in the Drenas region, one of the most damaged regions during the Kosovo War, was renovated and put into service. TIKA also renovated the Elena Gjika Elementary School which educates 1,800 students in Kosovo's capital of Pristina. - TIKA reaches far away to Asia It trained people in Central Asia country of Tajikistan for welding, as part of its employment program. In Philippines, a fully-equipped operational mobile clinic -- used in many medical treatments including surgical operations -- was delivered to authorities to be used in the Bangsamoro region where the Moro Muslims live. In Kyrgyzstan, a Turkish-Kyrgyz cultural center named after the world famous Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov was opened. The hall was also renovated. TIKA regularly gives away hot meal to 25,000 people in Moynergona/Bagguna distribution center in the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar. Some 16 tons of locally produced saffron plant were distributed among forty farmers in Afghanistan. The farmers were also trained. Uzbekistan was provided with 50 ambulances -- which will serve 10 million people in a year -- and 20 mobile service vehicles. - Projects in Middle East The agency renovated a public soup kitchen in Palestine's al-Khalil city, near lodge of Prophet Abraham. A 3,000-square-meter (over 32,000 square feet) seedling production facility was established in the West Bank city of Jenin -- the richest region of Palestine in terms of agricultural land and green area. An aid campaign, including distribution of a total of 3,000 school bags with school supplies inside, were carried out in Yemen.