The team meets six teenage girls in a tent city who describe their experiences during the earthquake and after. The dispatch discusses what life has been like in the tent cities, and describes COREM, a children's rehabilitation center that was started for earthquake victims.

You and your students can participate in a live Internet chat (organized by COREM and worldtrek) with these children and others on February 24th. See the worldtrek site for details.

Meet Okan Cuntay, who shares his first-hand account of the August 17th earthquake in Turkey and subsequent rescue efforts. Okan is a resident of Istanbul who volunteered as a translator with Swiss rescue teams in the city of Adapazari.

Natural disasters can strike at any time and cause terrible suffering, and when this happens, people come from everywhere to help. What kinds of natural disaster are most likely to strike in your area? What should students know to be prepared for these disasters?

Brian Makes A Difference by showing kids the impact volunteers can have on the lives of others and themselves. Includes information on the earthquake in Turkey, the world's population of six billion, and our responsibility on this planet.

Volunteering is a way that we can all contribute positively to this small world we live in. Perhaps you could ask your students to volunteer a chunk of their time at a local organization and write about their experiences as a homework assignment. What goals is the organization working towards? Did your students get any satisfaction from knowing that they contributed to achieving these goals?

We are taken on a centuries-long journey through the history of one of the greatest religious structures in the world. The Aya Sofia, or The Church of The Divine Wisdom, in Istanbul, is a standing testament to the rise and fall of some of the most powerful empires in history.

As a class, use Brian's autobiographical dispatch from the point of view of Aya Sophia as a jumping off point for discussing Turkey's long and varied history. Make sure to check out the Turkey timeline available on our web site.

Abeja discusses the history of Gladiators, the ancient medical writer Galen, and medicine in Roman times in ancient Pergamum (Bergama), Turkey. Topics covered include Galen, the Asklepion (also spelled Asclepion), humoral physiology, and ancient healing techniques.

Even though they were not exactly right, Galen's ideas on medicine (like humoral physiology), laid the foundation of Western medicine. Ask your students, as a class or individually, to name some other ancient founding philosophers and their contributions to the modern Western scientific tradition.