Tarabya British Schools, which has a vision of “Raising globally-minded individuals”, recently hosted the British Ambassador Richard Moore’s wife Mrs. Maggie Moore and president of the Guide Dogs Association Attorney Nurdeniz Tuncer for a “Success Stories” seminar. Maggie Moore is visually impaired and a guide dog user.

Tarabya British Schools, which aims to provide aid to those in need through its social projects every year, is extremely satisfied with making wishes come true for students in need and wants to participate in more charity work.

Tarabya British Schools and The Guide Dogs Association has started a joint initiative to announce a “Guide Dogs for the Visually Impaired” project. This is a totally new concept in Turkey. We aim to promote the project to a larger audience and consequently raise awareness.

As the first step in this collaboration, Mrs. Moore and Attorney Nurdeniz Tuncer answered students’ questions in a “Success Stories” seminar held at Tarabya British Schools.

Mrs. Moore and Nurdeniz Tuncer answered many questions about their association, its projects and how it is perceived by Turkish people. Our guests also brought puppies which are being trained to be a guide dogs and introduced them to our students. Mrs. Moore gave information about her guide dog Star’s training, her life in Turkey and her daily life with Star.

The president of the association Nurdeniz Tuncer liked the questions about the project’s presence in Turkish culture and how life with a guide dog is in Turkey. Nurdeniz Tuncer aimed to overcome the misconception that these animals are just pets. She highlighted that these dogs do vital work in facilitating a visually impaired person’s life and they should become part of Turkey’s culture.

Students asked Mrs. Moore questions about the difficulties she encounters in her daily life. She commented that in the past she was denied entry to many stores with her guide dog Star. However, she said that there has been a shift and this has started to change with people beginning to become more understanding. She also indicated that guide dogs are allowed in subways now and she hopes to see the dogs allowed on other forms of public transportation in the future.

Teachers and students of Tarabya British Schools have decided to work on this project together with the Guide Dogs Association to make visually impaired people’s lives easier. We plan to provide financial assistance to the difficult and expensive process of training these special guide dogs. Students and teachers have planned a range of fundraising activities both in and outside of school. One of the students’ first fundraising initiatives was to design a special sweatshirt and offer it for sale to students in the school, friends and family. They will donate all profits from this sale to the project.

The association meets an important need in a country such as Turkey that has 78 million people. The founder of the first Guide Dog Association in Turkey, Nurdeniz Tuncer, reiterated that the association is supported mostly by Maggie Moore, the British Ambassador Richard Moore’s wife, who has a visual impairment and a guide dog from this project.

In Turkey, there are many people who are not used to having dogs in their daily lives. Maggie Moore and the Guide Dogs association have had a huge impact on raising awareness about the role of guide dogs in visually impaired people’s lives.