February is Rotary world understanding and conflict resolution month, so on February 5th we had Seyit Erkal and Yetkin Yildirim speak to us about the situation in Turkey and about the Raindrop Foundation. Seyit Erkal described the situation in Turkey after the coup attempt. He was editor in chief of a publishing company that published books about religion and interpretation of ancient texts an d reprinted ancient books. His wife was editor of children’s books. Both were still suspect after coup attempt. He and rest of his family were able to escape, but those who couldn’t escape are in jail, even secretaries from his publishing company. After the coup 145,000 people arrested and 3,000 people put in jail; others are still under house arrest. Seyit ended up in Uganda with his family for 1 1/2 years before they were able to get visas to the United States. Yetkin Yildirim told us about the Raindrop Foundation, a nonprofit organization, which is a community center that has afestival with Turkish cuisine. They also offer Turkish classes in conjunction with ACC. During Ramadan, they set up meals with different churches for breaking fast as a way to promote cultural understanding. For more on the Raindrop Foundation go to www.raindropaustin.org.