Seeing that I was having hard time finding my passport because of the articles I was carrying, the police officer asked where I was from. When I said, “Turkey,” he said, “You may go,” and let me pass unchecked.I could not have been more surprised. I had learned something about Senegal from the serialized novel “Roots: The Saga of an American Family,” which dramatically tells the tragedy of Africa through the central character Kunta Kinte, and also from the famous Dakar rally and some documentaries on Africa, but I could not quite understand why they would adopt such a positive attitude toward Turkey.
History Professor Adama Diop, who was working as an adviser to the Senegalese education minister, told me the answers to all these questions: Behind all these were the Yavuz Selim Schools, identified with Turkey, and Professor Diop had been a major witness to the developments since the very beginning. Let us hear the rest of the history from the professor: “In 1996, the Senegalese ambassador to Turkey called me and wanted me to help some people from Turkey who wished to invest in education in Senegal. A small delegation of Turkish people, lead by a young person named Ömer, came. I was surprised. All of them were young people who had just graduated university. They did not even know French, which is the most commonly spoken lingua franca in Senegal. Apparently, theirs would not be such an easy task. There was a special unit in the education ministry set up for this purpose. They had a long list of formalities and hard-to-implement conditions. You must have power and good finances. They told me that they wanted to open an international college.
“There was a long way to go, but we soon grew closer, and we took the shorter path. If the longer path had been followed, the opening of the schools, the residence of Turkish families, the educational materials, everything would be a major problem. But we solved it with a protocol.”
When asked, “But why would you do this just for a 25-year-old boy?” he continued:
“When these young people came and said that they would improve education in Senegal, we did not know anything about Turks. The neighboring countries, too, did not know them. The first [Turkish] school system started with six schools, but everyone had doubts in their minds. They had to prove the quality of their education system. So they did, in a short time. In addition to being serious about education, they were also sincere as Muslims. We quickly developed a sense of closeness with each other since we were all Muslims. Senegal is a religious but secular and democratic country. Sometimes we would perform our prayers together. First, neighborhood kids came. They would visit parents and help the poor. These young boys opened the school and made big achievements.
“In our country, families attach great importance on education, and they closely monitor how schools perform in exams. Seeing that the students attending Yavuz Selim were successful, parents’ confidence grew and the number of students attending the school increased. Currently, Yavuz Selim is the school with best exam results in the country. And this is not a one-time only success. According to the statistics of the Education Ministry, 15 of the top performing students are always from Yavuz Selim, every year. By attaching importance to education and helping people, Turks secured the trust of people in the country. These people are good people, and they don’t have any problems with anyone. They have come with their families and busy themselves with education.”
After listening to the professor, we also lent an ear to a Senegalese mother who had entrusted her son to the Turkish youth and sent him to an international program in Antalya. Since she lost her husband, the mother said: “My kids are my only asset in this world. I called them three times even after coming to this meeting.” She told her story in tears:
“My son had gone to Antalya. When I phoned him, he was crying. I was very sad. I wanted to talk to the family where he was staying ... I went to school immediately. I was about to start a fight. Whoever saw me would think I was crazy. I found the Turkish teacher. ‘Why is my son crying?’ I asked him. The teacher phoned the family. The woman on the phone, too, was crying. Finally, we were able to learn why my son was crying. He was crying because he did not want to leave them.”
These words not only explained the attitude of the police officer at the airport, but also show that earnestly sown seeds bear beautiful fruits.
