Turkish village girl makes good, heads to university at 39

When Shukran Kondur was born, her life as a girl in the small village of Büyükçıldırım in the southern province of Adana seemed likely to proceed along a fairly predictable path of helping her mother in the household, taking care of the animals and working in the field. Indeed, Kondur’s father, Bekir Kondur, stopped sending the girl and her three sisters to school after their elementary education was completed, but sent the family’s three boys to the city to continue their learning.

The girl begged her father to change his mind but she was unsuccessful, as village tradition trumped the pursuit of more education. Şükran Kondur woke up early in the morning everyday to milk the cow, feed the chickens and work in the cornfield, but went to bed every night dreaming of school.

“My older sisters and the daughters of my relatives were not sent to school, so I didn’t have much of a reaction, but when my brother’s daughter was sent to school, I felt a great pain,” she said.

Living in the village had always been agonizing, she said.  “I used to say in my prayers: ‘God, you created me here in this village, I wish you had created me as having accepted this fact.’ When I understood in addition that I wouldn’t be able to go to school, I was very sad.”

As her parents aged, village life became difficult to bear. With the exception of Şükran Kondur, then 25, and her sister, Neslihan Kondur, then 28, all the children had married. At that time, the whole family decided to move to the provincial center, the city of Adana. The decision eased their life considerably because it meant a chance to get an education that they had only dreamed about before.

“When I came to the city, I became hopeful,” Shukran Kondur said. “I just went on this adventure when I found the opportunity to complete my education.”

They first got their driving licenses before registering to finish school by distance education, a move they initially hid from their father. But when the time came for the entrance exam to finish primary school, they had to explain their decision to him; his reaction was unsurprising but not necessarily hostile: “What’s the use of going to school at this age? Even those who graduated from school at an early stage cannot find jobs. Do whatever you want.”

Encouraged by their father’s acquiescence, the two girls redoubled their efforts to finish primary education, helping with the household during the day and studying after their parents went to sleep.

They received their diploma of primary education after three years and then began targeting high school, which meant studying the whole afternoon. When they reached the final year high school, they decided to try for the university entry exam, 11 years after they first went to Adana.

“My father is 80 years old and my mother is 75. I made the household and studied the rest of the time,” Kondur said. “When I started to go to courses to prepare for university exams, some work at home could not be completed. So I spent all weekend doing housework. This way I did not neglect my family. But I could not go out with my friends.”

When the results were made public, Neslihan Kondur was disappointed, but Şükran Kondur achieved a near miracle, leaving 500,000 to rank 328th out of all of Turkey in the social sciences.

“I am very happy. When I look back, I see how far I came forward. I feel like I lived the lives of two people,” she said.

The secret to her success is to grasp the importance of each course, she believes. “I never put pressure on myself. … I was successful because I was willing to learn each course,” she said.

She now thinks of going to the television-cinema department of Istanbul’s Bahçeşehir University and plans to be a screenwriting upon graduation. “I’ll do whatever the conditions serve up. When I succeed in one thing, I start dreaming of another. I will get awards. I am very set on getting awards in the field of TV/cinema,” she said.


/Hurriyet Daily News/