Sep30th, Coffee Morning, ONSITE - Austria

After a long summer break we gathered again physically and met for our first Coffee Morning in the new SHOM year!

Despite the cold weather forecasts we could meet on a sunny, warm morning on the terrasse of the Austrian Residence. With more than 35 SHOM Ankara members and guests from DMEDD it was quite a high participation, and we were very happy to welcome new members from all continents. It was obvious that everyone was happy to meet again in person, to chat and to laugh and share the memories and experiences from the summer and to look together forward to the coming year.

1. WELCOME

Former SHOM President Kees welcomed all the guests and thanked Sharmila for hosting this event. He looked back to his year as SHOM president in which Covid was making a lot of things more difficult. After he handed over the presidency to Sarah and wished her and her team lots of luck and success in their doing.

We thank Kees, our first male SHOM president ever, for his hard work and good leadership and the uncomplicated, always friendly but effective way of handling several issues!

Sarah, SHOM Ankara president 2021/22 takes over and welcomed the guests. She reminded the members that the SHOM board acts on behalf of everybody and that inputs and suggestions are highly welcome. She looks positively into her year as president.

After SHOM President Sarah introduced her team:

We are still missing a Secretary General. Currently Selina and Kees are sharing the tasks.

2. MEMBER NEWS

We had to say goodbye in summer to the following friends and members:

We would like to welcome the following new spouses to Ankara:

We kindly ask everybody to inform us if any newcomers are missing from the list above.

It was great to welcome some of the newcomers personally. Welcome to Ankara, welcome to SHOM!

The membership fee (200 TL) can be paid to the treasurer (See address below) or to your regional coordinator. Don't forget to put your name and country/ international organisations you represent on the envelope. A receipt will then be given/sent to you.

Mrs Larysa RYBAK, Embassy of Belarus, Abidin Daver sok., 17, Çankaya

3. SHOM PROGRAMS and GROUP ACTIVITIES

The first SHOM program will already be next week, on Wednesday October 6th we will have the opportunity to have a guided tour through the Presidential Library, the biggest library in whole Turkey.

The following Group Activities are continuing:

SHOM Book club: We have met already earlier this year and discussed Orhan Pamuk’s “The Museum of Innocence”. Our next gathering will be on Wednesday, October 3rd about Ahmet Ümit’s “Patasana”.

Help us collecting ideals for our next books for the upcoming meetings, we will fix the next 3 months so we all have a better time planning.

Take a glimpse what we have read so far.

SHOM Embroidery club: The ladies from the embroidery club could successfully present their amazing art works to a big audience last June. Take a look at some of their works here. If you would like to join and be active, please contact Gulbanu Syrgabayeva.

SHOM Walking club: during last year our members of the walking club have made several great walks together, often at the Eymir Gölü. The walks are suitable for the sportive ones who complete the whole tour as for the more comfortable ones who walk a shorter distance and mainly join for the social part and the break/picknick. Take a look of our former walks (and rests) here. At the moment we are looking for a walking group coordinator who sets the dates and organizes the group. We will soon again walk together – keep you updated.

We are happy to have a new group activity:

SHOM Movie club: Anita came up with the great idea of forming a movie club. We come together, watch a movie (due to Covid the screening time will be in the afternoon as we expect less people), and go for a drink/lunch/early dinner before or after.

The first movie will already be a highlight: on Tuesday, October 12th we will watch the new James Bond “No Time to Die” at 14.50 at the Atakule cinema. Click here for the trailer, reviews and further information. Looking forward to a great movie experience among friends!

Is one specific group missing? Would you like to follow your passion and hobbies with other friends from SHOM? Please let us know!

4. Information about DMEDD

We were happy to welcome our friends from DMEDD (Dışişleri Mensupları Eşleri Dayanışma Derneği) who we work close with. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spouses' Solidarity Association (DMEDD) was established on September 24th 1981 with the purpose of assisting and supporting the families of Turkish diplomats and officials who have been assassinated on active duty abroad. The current DMEDD President Simay Gümrükçü gave us a short introduction of DMEDD and their various activities and social projects they are doing and supporting.

The language and culture classes which DMEDD organizes every year will continue and interested SHOM members can register for the courses (beginner and intermediate level). Unfortunately the big yearly Christmas Charity Bazaar will again not take place this December due to Covid.

Our closest contact persons are Simay Gümrükçü (President) and Seda Akkermann (General Secretary). Thank you very much for coming to our Coffee Morning and for presenting DMEDD!

After the official information part by the SHOM board, our host Sharmila invited us for a delicious light lunch. The guests mingled, met new and old friends and truly enjoyed themselves. The fact that some of us stayed until late in the afternoon stands for the great hospitality of Sharmila and the good company. We all missed the physical meetings and are looking forward to many more to come!