Street-Cleaners Build Library from Tossed Books

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 18 December 2017)


Hitting the books after hitting the bricks (in an old brick 
factory, no less!)

In Ankara, the street-cleaners have set an excellent example.  Seven
months ago, the workers in Çankaya district began to collect tossed-out
books and now they have 4,200 books in a library they have set up in their
headquarters.  And there are many more books awaiting cleaning and
refurbishing that will be added to the library.


                          Not too shabby.

One of the workers, Orhan Aykutlu, explained that there are 17 different
categories of books in their library.  He added that "our break time is
mostly spent at our library."  His colleague Musa Kılıç noted that
"together we've set up something that's not available in most workplaces.
It feels good to both work and read."  Their boss Emirali Urtekin stated
that "we want to set up libraries in village schools, too.  There are those
who have heard about our library and say 'we want to donate books' so
we go to their address and collect the books.  We want to use our
resources for kids and we plan to convert an old garbage truck into a
traveling library."


From whence came the street-cleaners' sparkling HQS and
library.

As for the street-cleaners' headquarters, it is located in İmrahor quarter
of Çankaya and was once a brick factory built 45 years ago but abandoned
over time.  The local municipality restored the building and set it up as the
gathering place for the 600 street-cleaners.  A cinema is planned for the
building, where the workers and their families will be able to watch
films for free.