Children's Day in Turkey

April 23rd is Children's Day in Turkey.  This holiday started 92 years ago when the national assembly was formed and Ataturk declared that the future belonged to the children.  So, today, children all over Turkey are performing in ceremonies and enjoying a day of being treasured and important (which for many children in Turkey is just a normal day.... kids are well loved here).
In my school, we celebrate with a short ceremony that highlights the importance of the day and celebrates the unique qualities of children.

We also plant trees that will grow and help heal the land just like the children will grow and become the leaders of tomorrow.  It's also really helpful that it was Earth Day on Saturday and the planting of trees goes hand in hand with that.

This year we also added a fundraising event where students would bring in money to help support a local rehabilitation center for children and also to egg their teachers into cutting their hair or shaving their heads (the hair will be donated to A Matter of Trust and be made into mats to help with oil spills). Basically it was a great day where fun was had, people were celebrated and most of all, people were helped!!

These are the staff that bravely cut or shaved their hair off.  3 of them were women who went bald for the cause and they all looked BEAUTIFUL!!