THE ‘BACK TO LIFE WITH THE BASKETBALL VILLAGE’ PROJECT
We have been deeply saddened by the consecutive earthquake disasters in 11 provinces in Southeast Turkey centered arond Kahramanmaraş. We know that the most urgent need to recover from the deep wounds in the region is social solidarity.
BIDEV operates with the vision of ‘helping young people who are interested in basketball to grow up as good persons’, and along this goal, we are doing our best to help young surviviors in the earthquake region to recover from the damages and return back to normal life – as much as possible…
We have selected the Belen province of the Hatay Region of Turkey – which was very heavily hit – as a pilot area for our efforts, and have started to work together with Polimeks Holding, where our Trustee Erol Tabanca is Chairman of the Board, The Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) and the Turkish Basketball Coaches Association (TUBAD) …
We are building a ‘Basketball Village’.
We know that it is very difficult to return back to normal life after a tragedy of this scope – if ever possible.
The recent tragedies have left deep damages not only with the surviviors of the earthquakes, but also within the public memory of Turkey.
With our ‘Basketball Village’ of 11.397m2 that will include 100 containers providing shelter for 800 people, as well as 4 social function containers… we are hoping to help surviving children and youngsters to ‘reconnect’ with ‘life’ and to help them win back/develop their social capacities….
BIDEV will continue assisting the youngsters with overcoming their setbacks and difficulties with basketball and other personal trainings after the ‘Basketball Village’ has been constructed and put into operation.
Besides that, we will be working towards our second step of reaching out to children and youngsters living in rural areas and small villages by providing them with basketball training and various other ‘social capacity’ trainings.
What does the Basketball Village Provide?
- 100 containers with the capacity of sheltering 800 people
- 2 containers for cafeteria and related recreational purposes
- 1 laundry container
- 1 infirmary container
The containers of the Basketball Village have been designed to fully accommodate 8 people including kitchen and bathroom facilities and will be fully functional when handed over to their inhabitants
Following the devastating earthquake on 06 February 2023 with epicenter in Kahramanmaraş and widespread destruction in 11 cities, BIİDEV made several short, mid and long term plans to support our citizens affected by this tragedy. One of these plans, Basketball Village Project, has been materialized in a very short period of time with the collaboration among Polimeks Holding where one our Founding Trustee Members Erol Tabanca is Chairman of the Board, Turkish Basketball Federation and our Foundation. On the 11 thousand 397 square meters land allocated to the project by AFAD and Belen Prefecture were constructed 100 container houses completed with infrastructure and decoration, playground for children, education tent for children, laundry and kitchen containers, 3X3 basketball field in line with FIBA standards. During this period BİDEV trustees, national and international, individual and corporate donors and also Euroleague organization and its partners have contributed to this project with their donations.
BİDEV Chairman of the Board Hasan Arat and Polimeks Holding Chairman of the Board and our Founding Trustee Member Erol Tabanca visited the Basketball Village before its handover and contributed to the improvement activities of the project.
Hatay Governship, Belen Prefecture, AFAD, Polimeks Holding, Turkish Basketball Federation and BİDEV signed a protocol on April 18-19, 2023 and handed over the village to AFAD enabling the victims of the earthquake to settle down prior to the Ramadan Feast.
