Catalköy children rehearsing for their public performances

By Heidi Trautmann

It is not enough to hold a conference once a year to spread the idea of a clean environment, you have to carry on and promote it, and so the Catalköy Children Group under the guidance of their project coordinator, Mr Ulaş Varoğlu, decided to undertake some more direct steps to approach the public and,  in cooperation with the supermarkets in the Catalköy area, attract their awareness.

It is all about plastic bags which are handed out to customers so freely. Why not use re-usable fabric bags instead? Plastic bags somehow find the way into the sea and cause a lot of damage among many sea animals dying by the thousands from it. How do you feel when you have to swim through a barrier of slimy plastic waste that has landed on our coasts.

To demonstrate in a drastic way the danger behind the use of plastic bags, the children will on such occasions perform a thoughtful sketch for the customers of each supermarket in Catalköy. The performances will run for the whole month of July, and the venues and dates will be announced in advance. On these occasions the children will hand out fabric shopping bags free of charge and leaflets naming the supermarket which will have surprise gifts ready for one month for those customers who come again for shopping with their reusable fabric bags to show that they have accepted the idea behind the action.

Such an activity needs to be practiced and so I was invited to Catalköy to attend one rehearsal evening. Present were also Ulaş Varoğlu, (Project Coordinator), Mrs Irene Raab Marancos (Project Initiator and organizer of the Children Conference for Environment), Dalman Zaifoğlu (class teacher and project initiator) and Derman Atık (Director of Girne Municipality Theatre Group, and here play director) and the group of young actors and actresses: Beyzanur Bayir, Meryem Tümürlenk, Sümeyya Gülen, Alegna Asan, Melisa Önel, Gülçin Keleş, Hasan Carsun, Mikail Tümürlenk, Dilara Demir, Hatice Sahan, Aysun Gökkaya, Düriye Aysu, Kaymakam Erekoğlu, Beyza Numansoy, Kumru Enderoğlu, Ibrahim Gökkaya.

The rehearsal took place in the old village school which today serves as a meeting place for the community and where the project CADER – Catalkoy Development and Culture Organisation has its seat. Should you be interested to read more about it then see their website www.catalkoy.org

This environmental project – Say ‘NO’ to Plastic Bags - by the Catalkoy Children Group is acting under the care of CADER and is financed by SAVE which is funded by USAID.

Now, that I have done my duty to list all the important technical details I can talk about the evening of rehearsal. 16 children from, I would say, 7 to 15 were advised by Derman Atik how to get rid of the hateful plastic in a pantomime way. And, I must say, they convinced me. The children were deeply engaged to show with their mimicry and body movements how hard it is to free themselves from the all engulfing plastic. I will not say any more. Derman Atik has offered his help to direct the play and obviously has a very good hand with children.

Very soon we shall learn more about the time schedule where and when the Catalköy Children Group will perform. Watch out in newspapers and my website. As soon as I get the information in, I will place it in my website.

For the moment nothing is left but to wish the children a real good success and a great attendance.  My battle cry: Keep kicking, children, the avalanche is starting to move.