A 70-year-old woman in southeastern Türkiye has fulfilled her lifelong dream of learning to read and write decades after missing out on an education as a child, saying the achievement has given her a new sense of independence.
Esme Özgüler, who grew up in the northeastern province of Artvin, was unable to attend school because the nearest school was too far from her village. After losing her husband two years ago, she moved to Gaziantep to live with her daughters, who encouraged her to enroll in a literacy course.
Özgüler completed six months of instruction at the Hürriyet Social Solidarity Center (SODAM), operated by the Şehitkamil District Governor's Office, where she learned to read and write for the first time.
"I fulfilled my dream and learned to read and write," Özgüler said. "If I had been given the chance to study, I would have wanted to become a teacher like my father."
She said illiteracy had made even routine tasks difficult throughout her life.
