Illustration from Zübeyde’s book
Once the students had produced enough, they sold their products at a bazaar. During a class discussion about Atatürk, they mentioned it was their dream to visit his memorial, Anıtkabir. This became their new goal: with the money raised and the support of the principal and local authorities, the children – many for the first time in their lives – took a bus to Ankara and saw the monument, the national assembly buildings, and a salt lake. This experience inspired them further – school attendance increased, and teachers from other schools visited to learn about the project.
The students then decided to expand into producing sewn dolls, and the whole community got involved – volunteers brought sewing machines, mothers helped sew, and parents who once only came for mandatory meetings now rushed there eagerly. Learning transcended the classroom, connecting lessons to real life: in life studies, students learned financial literacy and conscious consumption; in maths, they made business plans.
The students also chose to give to others, sending part of the money to Gaza and making a batch of dolls for students at another school. As a surprise, the children later received the same dolls as their own end-of-year gifts, secretly prepared by their mothers.
As the community lit up with a new sense of agency and solidarity, the project drew the attention of local authorities, and the original dream was achieved – the children got their new Mind and Intelligence Games classroom, where they made a memory corner to commemorate everything they had done to get there. Zübeyde co-wrote a book with her students about this journey, titled Producing Hands, Sharing Hearts: A Story of Solidarity (Üreten Eller, Paylaşan Yürekler). Her new dream is to raise funds from the book’s sales to bring her students to the Konya Science Centre, and to visit other cities of Turkey one by one. Zübeyde shares their journey on Instagram as well.
Zübeyde signing the books
Zübeyde shared that her inspiration comes from her own background: despite discouragement from male relatives, her mother struggled but persisted to give Zübeyde the education she herself never had. Now, Zübeyde wants to do the same for others. She closes her book with these words:
If a child sees enough, they dream.
If they dream, they produce.
If they produce, they change the world.
And you are the children who will change the world.
This perfectly captures the mission of the Aflatoun movement – transforming lives through social and financial education.
27 July 2026