I decided to take a break from teaching biology -which I love so much- when I learned that I was pregnant with my third child. I was going to raise him by myself.

Thanks to my husband, who had quit his job to establish his own mineral oil company, I could do what I had decided. When our son was two years old, I wanted to return to my job that I missed, but my husband asked for my help at his company, and so, I started to work there.

First of all, I improved the working environment, then I started to learn finance. In time, our company had grown up; so we had our own gas stations. Then, we moved to İstanbul from Mersin; at that time, our gas stations' number reached 17. In 1992, we founded the fuel dispensing company OPET. Safe working conditions and employee satisfaction was our priority. 

I have been an OPET executive board member who is responsible for social responsibility projects, such as the cleanliness of the stations and their toilets, environmental pollution control, and ensuring that the facilities are handicap-friendly and satisfactory to customers.

All of our Clean Toilet, Green Road, Model Village, Traffic Detectives, Çanakkale and Troya Respect to History projects are continuous, because they touch people's hearts and change their behaviors. 

We have had golden medal projects which are studied as a case at Harvard University.

I am 68 years old and still in love with my husband, just like in the university years, when we had first met. We have two sons, one daughter, and four grandchildren. I write poems, travel writings and articles for some magazines. I am also interested in photography.

Some people say "Why are you in such a rush?", "It's time for rest" to me. My answer to them is "Why are you waiting when there is so much that you can do?" Why are we living if we can't change something positively with our presence?

Nurten Öztürk, Founding board member of OPET Oil Company
İstanbul, 2 October 2018

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My name is Moh Khara; I am 67 years old. My husband died a month ago. I have 5 children. Now I am living by the Inle Lake. In my hometown we were just farmers, and we had a hard life. When we came to the lake, we started to make knitwears and sell them to the tourists. My income differs according to the number of tourists visiting.

According to our culture, women who have long necks are more beautiful and attractive. I started to wear 13 rings at the age of nine. The number of the rings increases as our people get older. When I was  seventeen, I was wearing 14 rings. At the age of twenty, I reached the maximum number of rings that could be worn - 25. There are two different, separate parts in a ring. The rings are made of solid bronze and are worn as one piece. When you reach the number of 25 rings, the total weight of them is 10 kg. There is one extra ring for sleeping, and when we sleep, we turn the rings to the front side, but normally we wear them backwards. No matter what, we never take off the rings for our entire life. 

The color of my dress is our traditional color. I think that I look beautiful with my dress and the rings. 

Moh Khara
Inle Lake, Myanmar, 20 January 2019

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I am a 26-year-old Cuban musician of Spanish origin. I have been playing saxophone since I was thirteen years old.

I met music for the first time when I was at the church's elementary school. I graduated from the National Conservatory of Music in Havana almost two years ago.

I make my living by playing at various places with different bands. I have two siblings. My two sisters are living with my father. I live with my mother.

Like all young people, I want to travel the world and explore new cultures.

My goal for my near future is to improve myself in music and share it with many more people.

My favorite song to play with the saxophone is Henry Mancini's “Pink Panther”.

Never give up chasing your dreams; keep on walking the path that you choose, life will eventually reward you with your dream. 

Guelmis Morilla, saxaphonist
Havana, Küba, 20 Decrmber 2018

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My name is Rosto. I am from Bora Bora. I was born here. When I was a child, I didn't like to go to school; instead of that, my father and I used to go swimming with the sharks. At the beginning, I was afraid of them, but later, they have become my family.  

After I finished my schooling, I began to work in hotels. I have worked in various positions, like bartender, bellboy and receptionist. Afterwards, I started to work at the boat tours. Now, I have my own boat, and I organize swimming tours with sharks and stingrays for tourists. We give quality service to our guests. In our tour, we organize a special dinner for them at a private island which represents our local cuisine. The most admired dish of mine is raw tuna salad; they love it.

I have four children from four different women, but I am so much in love with my current wife. She is a very successful florist. She is everyone's top choice for wedding, birthday, and engagement party organizations. Both of us are so much in love with our jobs that I've never needed to take a vacation. Only once, I went to Hawaii, but I didn't like being there.

My biggest satisfaction in this job is the smiles that I see on my customers' faces. Just one time, an unfortunate accident happened that I couldn't forget - during a regular boat trip, while we were feeding the sharks with our guests, one of them was bitten by a shark on his special area. I was devastated when I saw him suffering like that. After that accident, I've increased my warnings not only for men, but also for women. I am warning women to be extra careful with their chest area, especially while having their periods.

Except for that unpleasant incident, I am living the most colorful and enjoyable era of my life with the tourists at the sea, and I invite everyone to see the amazing beauties of Bora Bora.

Rosto
Bora Bora, 16 October 2018

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We are supporting our family budget by selling our own hand-made products to the boaters at the Göcek marina with my sister-in-law Rabia.

Women's jobs are much harder at sea, but life has always been a struggle for me. We are from Kaleköy. I graduated from middle school. My family isn't wealthy, and because of that, I couldn't continue schooling. When I was a student, I had worked every summer, in fact all of our family members were working. My daughter is 11 years old; she is a fifth grader. My son goes to kindergarten. My boy doesn't like school; he always make up excuses to not to do his homework, which I think is typical man behavior, but my girl is a hard-worker, and I think she will gladly continue schooling. I wish my daughter could have a job that will make her happy. Money doesn't mean happiness.

My husband has a greenhouse at Demre, Antalya. He is working there with the children. They come here at summertime and return to Antalya when the schools start. Once, there was citrus; now everybody turned to greenhousing - they grow tomato and pepper plants.

I want to keep up with the changes of life. Now everybody could know almost anything, thanks to technology. I don't want to be in poverty, I want a better life for my children. I don't want too much, the standard level is more than enough for us, but we have to work very hard for it.

We make embroideries and sew them onto various fabrics. Every night, we complete colors and missing patterns, and in the daytime, we sell our products by docking the tourist boats with our caique. They are very interested, especially the women. I like my job. My husband also supports me.

Dilek Gökbelen, Entrepreneur, Boat shop owner
Göcek, Muğla, 21 September 2018

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My name is Roschan. I came from Sri Lanka to work as a chef in New Zealand a year ago. I am working at Waiheke Island. I enjoy my job very much.  I am improving myself constantly. I like cooking nice food for nice people who come to our restaurant.

I have ten years of experience in the hotel business. I worked in Sri Lanka, Dubai and Kuwait.  I also enjoy living in New Zealand; it is a very nice country.

My favorite dish that I like to cook is rack of lamb. In my free time, I like to create new recipes and experiment with new ways of cooking. I also take videos of them. I am a fine dining chef. I enjoy creating new dishes and make people say "WOW". 

My family, especially my two sons, is the most important thing in my life. Now, my sons are in Sri Lanka. One is 6, and the other one is 12 years old. I would like them to live with me in New Zealand in the future.

I want to say to people all around the world: "Enjoy your food".  We all need to bind with each other. If we can achieve this, the world would become a more beautiful place. 

Roschan
Waiheke Island, Auckland, 14 October 2018

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