* March 8, International Working Women’s Day … Are there any non-working women?
You can find and read his story anyway; I will tell you about us, not his history.
*We are licensed tourist guide women; who we are, how we live, being a woman in our profession,…..
*Now, what if no one talks about gender discrimination? For the day’s sake, I will talk about what we went through behind the scenes. For example, while I was writing these lines, a tour came for tomorrow in the middle of the night, which is quite normal for our guides. There is no concept of time in our lives. However, we were going to meet the Antalya guides for breakfast tomorrow morning. We were going to transfer the amount we collected to a fund for the children of our colleagues who we lost recently. What to do, business is business; even if I can’t attend breakfast, help will be provided.
*I have experienced many stories in my 25-year mentoring life. We all have exciting stories, but our profession is different. In the eyes of everyone who doesn’t know what’s going on inside, we oooh, travel, make money, that’s la laaaa… But they don’t know that our child – our spouse is sick, there is a funeral – birth in our family, school graduation – performance, military farewell – wedding; we are on the roads, miles away, maybe abroad. Our minds and hearts may be elsewhere, but we should always be smiling, energetic and concentrated so our guests can spend their holidays happily.
*You return home, but in limited time there is a ton of work to do at home; you have to take care of yourself… Until the next tour…
*Foreign – Turkish guests do not matter; we are the women of our modern Republic founded by our Ata. Archaeology, history, architecture, flora/fauna, mythology, agriculture, geography, religion, first aid, art, law, industry, cuisine, music, fashion, current issues, foreign language speaking, equipped, modern women of our country. We are the modern face of Turkey, which is remembered by our guests visiting our country.
*Our words will not end, but today is March 8; let’s not prolong it… You can read more and our stories in our next @mikrofon issue. Have a wonderful, healthy, radiant and happy day.
With love……
Note: A little while ago, at midnight, the news came that the tour was canceled; hooop, the program is again. Here we are, women guides.
Meltem Karamete – Acting President of TKTC