Dilek Bolat: “It’s a very difficult process, we will have difficulties but we will not give up!”

Beautician Dilek not only makes you feel good, but also provides her professional training to young women. It supports their development by transferring information.

Dilek is a woman who took action to support her family and educate her children. She thought about which job she could do and decided to take hairdressing training. First, she started to serve her neighbors and those around her at home. Then, with the support of the instructors in the course, she opened a workplace. Dilek, who officially opened her business two years before the earthquake, was running both a hair dresser and a beauty center.

 “I have three children, I did not have the luxury of working for someone else. I took out a loan and opened a workplace. Since I have my own workplace, my children are with me. I can take care of my children and do my job at the same time.”

In the February 6 earthquake, her business was heavily damaged and her materials were buried under the rubble

“My workplace was a duplex and I had both a hairdresser and a beauty salon. I lost so many of my belongings in the earthquake that I thought it would never happen again and I wouldn’t be able to do this job anymore.”

Dilek started living in a tent with her family after the earthquake. She did not give up. Even in those difficult days, she continued her passion for her job, saying, “It wasn’t going to happen by waiting, I continued to work as a hairdresser in a tent!” She was on her own, she had no employees, there were constant power and water cuts, but despite all the impossibilities, she continued to do her job.

“It was very difficult to work in the tent, but when I saw two scissors side by side, I became happy, I couldn’t stop, I kept going.”

6-7 months after the earthquake, she moved her workplace from tent to container. It was at this time that she became aware of MaviKalem’s program and applied. While there were still power and water cuts in the region, the generator support she received enabled her to continue her business without interruption. She continues to offer the latest and popular services to women in her beauty salon in Çekmece Neighborhood, Defne, with her interns.

Dilek’s goal is to move out of the container, settle in a house with her children and take her business one step further. She plans to open a business again.  “I know it will be hard, but I believe it will happen,” Dilek says.

To women like her who want to start their own business, she says; “We are not giving up. It is a very difficult process, we will have difficulties but we will not give up!”