Earthquake

Ivan Francisco Escobar from the nonprofit World Central Kitchen is preparing 25000 meals daily in Antakya along with a team of six Turkish volunteers.

Arriving more than a week ago, Sayiliroglu says he has been working around 15 hours a day in the kitchen. “My mission is until March 10 after which my idea is to cede the operation to these Turkish volunteers so that they keep doing what we’ve been doing. Escobar – who has worked in other disaster-hit areas – says he has seen the devastating impact of hurricanes, storms and flooding. “As soon as I saw these images, the next thing I did was contact my superiors (in WCK) and said, ‘please send me to Türkiye immediately’,” he recalls. “When you are working with people who have just lost everything, our role, more than feeding, is to try to increase morale. You should always support each other,” Sayiliroglu adds. That’s why it is important to do everything possible to increase that morale.” There is no time to be weak, only time to be strong and do what you need to do to feed as many people as possible. It’s a plate of hope. It tells you in your darkest hour that someone, somewhere, cares about you.” [World Central Kitchen](https://wck.org), a US-based non-profit which provides food in natural disasters, made-made crises and humanitarian emergencies. “And there’s no time to complain, to whine.