Intern
Aysel is currently a master’s student in Pedagogical Sciences (Youth at Risk track) at the University of Amsterdam with a background in Educational Sciences, Guidance, and Psychological Counseling. She has nearly 8 years of experience working with national and international non-governmental organisations in emergency and development contexts, where she has designed and led a wide range of projects focused on empowering children, adolescents, and young women, particularly those affected by displacement, disaster, or systemic disadvantage.
Her work has covered areas such as child labor in seasonal agriculture, gender in STEAM, peer bullying, conflict resolution, mentoring, learning and well-being, often at the intersection of programme design and operations. She recently relocated to the Netherlands to further develop her academic and professional expertise and at ICDI she sees a great chance to learn and collaborate.
As a child
As a child, Aysel was a big fan of jigsaw puzzles, and she still is! She especially used to mix pieces from different puzzles and figure out where each piece belonged. She grew up with many children in her neighborhood but had a close-knit group of five girls who constantly created imaginative worlds and role-played. One day, they were news anchors for a famous TV channel; another day, they were on a mission to find the perfect mud to brew the best coffee in the neighborhood.
She was eager to join sports and games, and even when it felt challenging, she kept trying with curiosity and persistence, and she still does!
Aysel and play
Aysel grew up in a typical 1990s neighborhood in Turkey, where children spent entire days outside, only going home when their mothers called them in. A day would often begin with imaginative games that required a bit of “production” and improvisation, collecting notebooks, old phones, dresses, and shoes, and turning them into schools, banks, or wedding ceremonies. As the day went on, the games became more active: hide-and-seek, hopscotch, and jumping rope filled the streets, and toward the evening, larger group games took over, like monkey in the middle and volleyball.
