Ersin Bilge distributes books to rural children using a donkey

Ersin Bilge, a 63-year-old worker living in Germany, is traveling across Turkey with his donkey, Karakaçan, to distribute books and stationery to children in rural villages. His project, titled ‘Eşekle Gelen Dostoyevski’ (Dostoyevsky Arriving by Donkey), was launched in 2019 to fulfill a childhood dream of bringing educational supplies to remote areas.

To date, Bilge has reached approximately 18,000 children across 25 provinces. His most recent stop was in the Eflani district of Karabük, where he visited Atatürk Primary School and Şehit Ali Şen Korkut Secondary School to provide Turkish and world classics alongside notebooks and pens.

Bilge aims to promote educational equality and introduce children to the cultural heritage of figures such as Yunus Emre, Mevlana, and Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli. He expressed his hope that his efforts might inspire children from these villages to make significant contributions to fields like literature, science, and medicine.