Dear UmAy Donors, Friends, Volunteers and Supporters,
Happy Fall/Autumn! We hope that you had a nice summer. We are almost fully done with our transition over the summer (even Mia, the famous cat-survivor) and we are back to our original mission. But there is a twist so that is the big news that we are sharing with you in this Fall newsletter 🙂 We hope that you will like this transition/hybrid model and you are welcome to share your feedback afterwards.
In August, we hosted two wonderful guests from Australia, Koki de Silva and Iqbal Barkat (from Sydney) who spent two productive and joyful weeks at UmAy according to their glowing and long feedback. You can check their short bio online but it was also wonderful to connect with them in real life with all its human sides, jokes, cooking etc. They contributed with their manual work as well as ideas. We’ll appreciate all of their ideas and will carry out some of them in the near future. Koki and Iqbal are now part of the global UmAy Community that we are proud to have.
Our September guest, Zara Houshmand from California had to postpone her residency due to health issues. We wish her and her family quick recoveries and look forward to hosting her again when she is available. Another writer’s application, Bodil Matheeuwsen, is under process and we have welcomed our latest workaway volunteer Alix (who uses they/them pronouns) from the UK. We’ll tell you more about Alix’s story in our next newsletter. They will be helping us with the house (by doing murals) and in the garden and will collaborate in editing a book with Ozlem.
Now for our announcement, which comes with mixed feelings: we are happy to say we can still keep our women-only, safe, and shared space for those in need. Sevilya is happy to keep one room which she will manage as a private office but other than that, she and I will be sharing our UmAy home with others as the need arises like we did before. Unfortunately, we failed to build a functioning non-profit due to several reasons, and therefore we are moving on to the hybrid model that Ozlem had in mind as a backup plan even 5 years ago. This hybrid plan means we will be looking for women tenants while keeping the main guest profile that we have always maintained for the wellness of UmAy residents and Kirkpinar community. We will still be accepting applications from women who are in need of this precious space and also rent rooms for the ones who can afford. Therefore, we would be grateful to welcome anyone as a tenant who is willing to adapt and be a peaceful roommate with or without Sevilya. With the system we built, it is now possible to self-check in and make yourself at home, just like an AairBbnb home 🙂 Below is the link to share: https://www.sabbaticalhomes.com/rental/167596
Can you please spread the word for us among your feminist, artists, writers and academics’ circle? We need an income to maintain this house and ourselves.
In other news, our cat Mia, whose story will be of resilience and adaptation when documented one day, is either going to Hatay soon to join her family or she will merge with the current pawed family in the UmAy garden so that we can keep the house open to all as we did before (including those with cat allergies and bad history with felines). We are happy that we hosted the Sahutoglu Family thanks to your support and love for the most needed times.
We are also excited to share that as a psychological counselor and equine-assisted therapy (EAT) practitioner Sevilya has almost come to an end in her prepwork and will launch her EAT and related services that are closely aligned with her work at UmAy. This includes nature-based therapies, workshops, and programs designed to promote resilience, environmental awareness, and mental wellbeing. By creating a safe, empowering space for individuals and groups, Sevilya’s mission resonates with UmAy’s core values. She has been able to turn her vision into reality thanks to the generous scholarship support she has received from one of our valued donors over the past two years.
Now with the coming of September, we are all busier with work, family, and our new transition but don’t hesitate to reach out any time with your ideas and support.
I promise to keep in touch and welcome you virtually or any other possible way. We are 4,5 years old now and whilst we are not able to run UmAy as an official non-profit, by renting out rooms for individuals or for events, we hope to keep the house while accepting applications from women in need (hence the name: hybrid model!). We love sharing our place with like- minded women because it reminds us once again of the importance of solidarity and interconnectedness in (what can often feel like) a broken world.
Thank you for all your solidarity, love, and support!
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