IMU Sociology Club held an online talk on “Poverty: Homelessness during the Pandemic” with Selime Hatun Mosque Imam Osman Gökrem and Embrace Life Association Restaurant Manager Cemil Güler on February 05-06, 2021. The moderators of the talk were club members Asude İlhan and Selin Ayvalı.
In the first day of the event, Osman Gökrem talked about the issue of poverty during the pandemic and the importance of helping the homeless, explaining that he provides showers, barbers, clothes, and meals to the homeless every week in his mosque. He further stated that he was surprised to meet so many homeless people when he started charity activities. He especially drew attention to the number of homeless people in Istanbul in particular, highlighting our humanitarian duty in this regard. He then talked about his charity activities for the homeless at Selime Hatun Mosque.
As the second speaker of the event, Cemil Güler talked about how the idea of a restaurant for homeless people emerged and explained the process of becoming an association. He stated that they first started food aid by serving soup, and they also provided clothing aid to the homeless in the process of becoming an association. He explained that at that time, together with the other founders of the association, they tried to start a project first by investigating the locations and needs of the homeless. He also talked about how Hayata Sarıl Lokantası (Embrace Life Restaurant) became an association – a restaurant during the day which distributes soup to the homeless in the evening. He further mentioned that we should pay attention to the problems faced by homeless people.
The interview received great interest from the members of the club and ended with a question-answer session.