Apr 22 - May 05, 2011 www.coastalbreezenews.com Page A21

with about 30 kids in tow, including me. We walked into the school building and after passing by a number of classrooms, we entered ours. There were 30 wooden desks with small wooden chairs behind them. We all sat down where Ms. Ulviye told us to sit down and with great anxiety looked around to get used to our new sur-roundings. We were told to open the top lid of our desks and put our book bags inside the empty box. There was a small, round hole on the top of the desk where we were told to place our inkwells. The teacher asked everyone to put their hands on the desk, palm down and she inspected our fingernails to see if they were clean; then asked us to show our teeth to make sure they have been brushed.

Later on, we were to find out that there was actually a grade on our report cards called “cleanliness”. Ms. Ulviye then sat down and started to tell us how the first grade class she had last year was the greatest, and discipline was perfect. Then she pointed to a spot on the wall behind her and said “this is the spot where our “falaka” used to hang! We all knew what that was! An instrument of extreme tor-ture which was banned by Ataturk from all modern schools! It was a wooden bow with a rope which was tied to both ends of the falaka.

Those who did not behave in class would be asked to come forward, take their shoes and socks off. They would then be asked to lay down on the floor and the teacher would tie their feet to the bow exposing the soles of their feet. Then the “falaka stick” would appear and the teacher proceeded to beat the bottoms of the feet of the unruly student until they got red. Then the rope would be loosened and the unruly student would be asked to stand up in the corner till the class was over. When Ms. Ulviye pointed to the spot where the falaka was, I began to under-

stand the meaning of my father’s instruc-tions “the meat is yours and the bones are ours”. This gave the teacher to mold me as she saw fit; using whatever method she chose.

I was very upset and wanted to go home right then. But it was the first day of school and my father was already at work and my mother was at home. Ms. Ulviye asked everyone their names and got down to teaching us immediately. By mid-morning a school janitor arrived with a large tin can marked “US AID” which contained American cheese and another can containing powder milk. We were all made to eat a piece of cheese and drink a glass of milk. Thank you Uncle Sam! I started to get hungry again by 11 AM and wondered how and where I was going to eat. At noon, we were taken to a “lunch room” by one of the janitors. There on the tables were our “sefer tasi”. These were two or three layered, metal containers held together by a vertical handle bar.

My mother had prepared my lunch and sent it to school before noon. The se-fer tasi (loosely translated to “mess kit” which was used by the Turkish military during wars to carry their food. Sefer ac-tually means an expedition and tas means a metal container.) They were heated and delivered to our lunch room. School provided drinks (water) and bread (nice, thick, black bread). After lunch, the emp-ty containers were sent back home.

We studied reading, basic history, penmanship and math and yes; geogra-phy. And we all behaved real well under the shadow of the “falaka” which was banned and removed but its power was still there, on the wall, behind Ms. Ul-viye’s desk. And we learned to read and write in Turkish, about who Turkey’s neighbors and enemies were. We even learned where Syria was; right there in that elementary school in Istanbul under

the presence of the “falaka” in Ms. Ulvi-ye’s first grade classroom.

I often wonder what the first graders in Tommie Barfield would think of having the threat of a falaka and stick on the wall behind their teacher’s desk. As for me; I am very happy to have left all that behind; but once in a while when someone at a bookstore asks me where Syria is; I fondly remember Ms. Ulviye and the threat of the non-existent, yet most powerful “fal-aka” on the wall.

Currently a member of Marco Island’s Code Enforcement Board, Tarik Ayasun has given many years of community service to various organizations.

Prayer Shawls

Thrivent for Lutherans gave the knit-ters and crocheters at Marco Lutheran a grant to buy more yarn for the prayer shawl ministry. In addition they make baby hats, baptismal blankets and lap robes. Led by parish nurse, Gail Casc-ciola, 8 to 10 women work once a week at the church while other ladies work at home.

By Joan Kelly

SUBMITTED PHOTOHelen Campbell, Carmille Bauer, Shirley Potter, Kathy Hansen, Marlene Walter, Caryle Herr and Elaine Newman.

Sefer Tasi.

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