Sibel Uğurlu
November 29, 2017•Update: November 29, 2017
By Mehmet Siddik Kaya
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey
A Ugandan teacher who visited Turkey seven years ago wants to make the country his home.
Wanitho lvan Kerawiya, 26, has been working as an English teacher in Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakir province for the last four years.
Kerawiya, first visited Turkey, when his parents offered to send him abroad following his brilliant university exam results.
He chose Istanbul, because a t-shirt he owned with the city's name printed on it, was his first introduction to the country.
After completing his degree in Uganda's Makerere University, he decided to return to Turkey.
He visited a number of cities, but in the end decided to settle in Diyarbakir with his wife.
"I liked Diyarbakir a lot as the people here are very sincere. I had no difficulties here. It felt like home, like Uganda,” he told Anadolu Agency.
Kerawiya knows 11 languages in addition to Turkish and Kurdish, which he learnt when he started living in Diyarbakir.
He has adapted to Turkish culture so much that Turks do not see him as a foreigner anymore.
Later, he brought two of his sisters to Turkey. One of them is an English teacher in Diyarbakir and the other is studying journalism in Istanbul.
He said he misses his family in Uganda but added that he likes his colleagues and students.
"I found another family here in Turkey. I have my students, friends and colleagues. I don’t want to leave them. My new country is Turkey.”
