First Lady Erdoğan, who accompanies President Erdoğan during his visit to Djibouti, met with women representatives of NGOs on the first day of her visit. As a part of her second day programme, First Lady Erdoğan visited the Daryel Orphanage, which operates under the auspices of First Lady Kadra Mahamoud Haid of Djibouti and then addressed to the National Women’s Union of Djibouti.
First Lady Emine Erdoğan continued her visits to NGOs and local societies in Djibouti, the second stop of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s tour in Africa.
First Lady Erdoğan, who met with Djiboutian women at the Turkish Embassy in the evening of her arrival in Djibouti from Ethiopia, chatted with women representatives of NGOs, whose missions included aid and solidarity, assisting blind and disabled people and developing an awareness of environment. Djiboutian women, who stated that they did not normally attend to such meetings, said that they attended to this meeting out of their love for President Erdoğan and reminded First Lady Erdoğan of the saying “there is a strong woman behind every strong man.”
First Lady Erdoğan, who noted the needs of the representatives of the NGOS, took a picture with her guests.
FIRST LADY ERDOĞAN VISITS DARYEL ORPHANAGE
After the official welcoming ceremony, which was held on the second day of their visit, First Lady Erdoğan visited the Daryel Orphanage which is under the auspices of First Lady Kadra Mahamoud Haid of Djibouti. There are 40 girls and 70 boys staying at the orphanage, which raises children in need of protection who are abandoned after birth. An a-few-weeks-old orphan girl was named ‘Emine’ and an orphan baby boy was named ‘Tayyip’ in order to memorialize President Erdoğan’s visit to Somalia. First Lady Erdoğan, who took a close interest in the children at the orphanage, presented them gifts and made a donation to the orphanage.
FIRST LADY ERDOĞAN’S ADDRESS TO THE NATIONAL WOMEN’S UNION OF DJIBOUTI
Afterwards, First Lady Erdoğan visited the National Women’s Union of Djibouti. The Union, which was founded in 1977 when Djibouti declared its independence, continues to work under the under the auspices of First Lady Kadra Mahamoud Haid of Djibouti. There are over 500 women and youth association that work under the umbrella of the Union. The Union works for the empowerment of women, to help disaster-stricken families, to end poverty, illiteracy, to teach cooking and needle-craft.
First Lady Erdoğan, who was welcomed with a spectacular ceremony, mentioned the significance of civil society in her speech. Mrs. Erdoğan emphasized the importance of the Union’s activities such as cooking and sewing classes which equip women with a profession. She said that this was teaching people in need how to fish instead of giving them a fish. In her speech, Mrs. Erdoğan also mentioned Turkey’s view of Africa. She said that Turkey was in Africa only for humanitarian purposes.
First Lady Erdoğan finished her speech by saying “Long Live Turkish-Djiboutian Brotherhood, Long Live Turkish-Djiboutian Solidarity”.
First Lady Erdoğan was accompanied by her daughter Sümeyye Erdoğan, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş’s wife Sevgi Kurtulmuş and wives of the ministers Nigar Işık, Hatice Eroğlu and Faize Müezzinoğlu during her visit.