Nesin Foundation – Educating “out of the box”

Nesin Foundation was founded by the well-known satirist writer Aziz Nesin in 1973 to support education of children with disadvantaged backgrounds in Turkey and to ensure that children “are constantly developing themselves, look internally and externally with a critical eye and grow up into productive individuals with social responsibility, self-confidence and altruistic values.”

The Nesin Foundation's main site in Çatalca, Istanbul, accepts about 40 pre-school or early-years elementary school children, who stay until they feel they have enough education, skills and maturity to navigate society independently. The foundation does workshops, events, camps and, aside from school, the children have plenty of opportunities to develop hobbies by getting lessons in painting, dancing, ceramic, music, theatre and sports and also spending time with animals at a nearby farm. Most children that grew up at the foundation remain in touch, and form a community that keeps Aziz Nesin’s educational principles alive, at a time when Turkey’s educational system is heading in the opposite direction.

While the project is mainly funded from the sales of Nesin’s books, donations are highly needed and encouraged.