Eagle Eye

Hello Everyone, my name is Mehmet* and I am 13 years old. Like some other children, I ended up wearing glasses three years ago. They have become my companion. 

They are the first thing I search for as soon as I open my eyes in the morning. Without them, my world is unclear, vague and quite scary. They are my comfort and clarity. At the same time, I have a love-hate relationship with my glasses. I need them to function but I hate how they look on me and how they make me feel. 

One incident was enough to make me thankful for them.

The Türkiye earthquake

My glasses, the item I loathed the most was my sole companion during the earthquake. While my mother and father were frantically trying to salvage our legal identification cards, I put my hands on my glasses trying to ground myself. Everything was unravelling too fast to comprehend. One second I was in bed putting my glasses on and the next, we were all running outside, father was clenching our IDs, mother was dragging us outside and I was holding onto my glasses. 

After we went outside, it only took less than a second for our building to collapse. I was speechless, the way it crumbled like a piece of paper, lacking any type of reinforcement, as if it didn’t take months to build or an unimaginable amount of steel to enforce. Then a huge pile of dust filled the air indicating that we and the other neighbours needed to find shelter elsewhere- we are homeless now.

At least I have my glasses, right?

While my parents were looking for a place to stay, I was trying to deconstruct the sense of attachment I developed with my glasses. I knew I hated them, I even remembered how my friends in school used to tease me, calling me names for the way they made me look and I even did want to go back to school. I was angry about the failed eye surgery after which I had to wear glasses after. Other children at school didn’t spare me and I didn’t want to spend another second inside its walls. But my mother did not allow that, she insisted I go and continue my education. I guess she knew better. 

Yes, I do display mixed emotions.

My glasses were saved from the angry earthquake; they remain with me. But what about us, I thought. But where will we go? We have no home and all of our items are under piles of rubble. My father thought to himself then voiced it out, we will try our luck in Istanbul but it soon ran out and so did our money. After that, my father decided we would go to Syria until we figured everything out, he said we would stay with a relative but not for long.

I mean the situation is very difficult in Syria, we are considerate of the living conditions and the skyrocketing prices there. So six months will help us know our next step. Which it did.

When we came back to Türkiye, we applied to a shelter unit in one of Gaziantep’s displacement camps. Thank God we were accepted, we had nowhere to go. To be honest, living there was not easy, we had to share one common toilet, and it was not the cleanest but at least we had a home.

And I had my glasses with me.

But, they began weathering, maybe the emotional toll of the earthquake and displacement began affecting them too. I am not sure. But they are not okay. I don’t know what to do. My father barely puts food on our table after being trapped under rubble during the earthquake. He is doing better after the physical therapy but sometimes, I think to myself, maybe if he had my glasses, would he be okay today? I still wonder.

I will take care of my glasses and if they break I will repair them.

One day, I was wiping the lenses when I saw blue vests walking about the displacement camp. They kept heading towards our shelter unit. I thought to myself, Mehmet, they must be heading the adjacent one. Either way, I put on my glasses only to realise they were approaching me. They were kind and said hi. Mother invited them inside and they began talking.

I heard they were talking about me, that I wasn’t going to school. I thought, I would love to go to school, my glasses and I would learn so much! Mother said that my glasses have gone old, probably they need to be replaced and new frame even that is why I am not going to school. I mean, I cannot see the board very clearly and sometimes the teacher writes small letters and when I keep squinting it makes my head hurt, so I don’t go anymore.

They said they would resolve these issues but I wondered how.

The people in the Blue Vests came in the following day talked to my mother then introduced themselves to me saying they were from an organisation called Mavi Hilal Vakfı-IBC International Blue Crescent Relief. I immediately thought that’s why they were wearing blue vests! Because they are MAVI which means blue in Turkish!

MAVI said we have a surprise for you and drove me to a shop. It had big windows and a lot of shelves. When I went inside I realised I was in an Optical Shop. They said, choose whatever frame you like so we can get the new measurements and you can see clearly in school.

I was overjoyed! There were so many colours, shapes and sizes. But I chose black because it goes with everything. I was fitted and got my new glasses. I thought to myself, I have a new friend now. I can't wait to show my family.

The Blue Vest team also introduced me to a world of nice people who also loved my glasses. It was a centre where we learned how to communicate and build relationships and friendships while I was also working on my education. I feel more comfortable now, with these glasses and my grades are getting higher! I look forward to the future. 

Such services can be provided thanks to funding from New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mehmet received glasses and 1869 others received psychological support.

*Name has been changed to protect identity.