Brooklyn Amity School. SJ Dodgson. MJoTA 2013 v7n2 p0831
I saw a row of young women, very young women, sitting on Borough Hall during the 3rd anniversary memorial service for the sons and daughters of Haiti who perished in the catastrophic earthquake of Jan 10, 2010. They were all pale skinned, and most had their heads covered with hijabs. They were introduced as students at the Brooklyn Amity School, who had gone to Haiti on a humanitarian mission.
I saw them again at the CACCI commemoration of Martin Luther King Day, and again at a United Nations forum on women and faith. The assistant director, the young lady in the top photo, invited me to tour the school, which I did in Feb 2013, less than 4 months after the superstorm Sandy had ravaged the region.
The storm ravaged the region, and destroyed homes of students, but did not ravage the school. The students wasted no time in participating in aid for displaced and distressed New Yorkers, no time at all. The Wall Street Journal reported some of their efforts.
The school is close to the Atlantic Ocean, less than a half-mile from it, and close to bays, less than a quarter-mile. But it is slightly elevated, and was a refuge from the storm, which more and more describes Turkey.
I was already fascinated by Turkey, because I had flown into Istanbul on my way to Nigeria in Feb 2012, and saw the waters of the Bosphorus jammed with container vessels.
And in my preparation of country pages, Turkey keeps popping up as a peacemaker. In Somalia. In Egypt. And now in Syria.
The school did not disappoint: the senior students are all earnest young women looking forward to a life of service through high achievement. Going to Haiti was a great start. Turkey had a woman prime minster in the 1990s. Who knows what these young women will do. I wish them well.
