Camp offers new experience for three girls from Istanbul

By ASHLEY JACKSON – Bulletin Staff Writer

A local animal camp provided three girls from Turkey the opportunity to be free from a crowded lifestyle.

This summer, Infinity Acres Ranch in Ridgeway welcomed Pelin Marie, 12; Ela Mae, 10; and Aylin Bridget Yirmibesoglu, 7, who are from Istanbul, Turkey, to its Animal Adventure Camp.

The experience at the camp was more than just fun with animals; it was about experiencing American culture and feeling free on the farm, said their mother, Marianne Yirmibesoglu, who is from Martinsville.

Pelin said Istanbul has 14 million people, so it is crowded and there is a lot of traffic.

In Martinsville, “the kids can run around and have freedom,” Yirmibesoglu said. “In Istanbul, I never let them out of my sight.”

The girls visit the Henry County area every summer when they come to visit Yirmibesoglu’s parents, Fred and Marie-Bernice Downey, and her brother, Timothy Downey.

Yirmibesoglu said her children speak both English and Turkish and she wants them to be engulfed in both cultures, as well. She likes her children to experience the small-town atmosphere that she grew up in, she said.

“It’s really quiet, and you can hear the birds … it’s peaceful here,” Pelin said.

“In Istanbul, you always hear cars and beeping and planes,” Ela said.

“I wanted them to see this part of life; it’s not just city life,” the girls’ mother said of the Martinsville area.

The children enjoy animals, and they can’t even have a dog in Istanbul because there is not enough space for it to run, Yirmibesoglu said, adding that they do own two cats.

The Animal Adventure Camp at Infinity Acres Ranch was “their opportunity to see animals,” she said.

The girls toured the ranch when they were here the last two summers, and this year, they begged their mother to let them attend the camp.

Pelin, the oldest of the three girls, said she wanted to go to the camp “to learn about more animals and how to take care of them.”

During the camp, the girls got to interact with several domestic and exotic animals on the ranch. Animals featured on the ranch include sugar gliders, a little mountain coatimundi, parrots, pot-bellied pigs, peacocks, a miniature cow from India called a zebu, and corn snakes, according to Laura Steere, who owns the ranch along with her husband, Rick Steere.

The domestic animals that the girls interacted with were large and miniature horses, goats, sheep, donkeys, alpacas, llamas, Americanas chickens, and more, Laura said. She added that Americanas chickens’ eggs are green, pink and blue.

Ela, the second-oldest of the girls, said she enjoyed getting to ride the horses, and that was her favorite part of the camp. She added that they also got to paint on the miniature horses, which was fun. “The horses like the attention,” Ela said.

Aylin, the youngest, said that her favorite parts were getting to pet the animals and to ride some of them.

On the first two days at the camp, campers got to play with the animals. On the third day, they began learning the responsibilities of having them, which included feeding, watering and cleaning up after them, Rick Steere said.

Camp leaders like to teach the campers “respect, recreation and responsibility,” which are important things to know when having animals, Laura Steere said.

All of the campers also participated in several craft activities and recreational games. One game that Ela enjoyed was “the sponge game,” which consisted of laying down and passing a sponge with your feet to the other members of your team until the sponge makes it into a bucket at the end of the line, Ela explained.

The campers also went fishing with bamboo fishing poles and used corn as bait, Rick Steere said.

Some of the crafts included making journals and placing items that they found on the ranch in them, and needle felting alpaca fibers to make an alpaca-felted bar of soap, according to Laura Steere.

The girls can take their souvenirs back to Turkey and tell their friends about what they experienced at the camp and tell them that “this is what life is like in America,” their mother said, adding that many people in Turkey think America is just what they see in the movies.

via Camp offers new experience for three girls from Istanbul – Martinsville Bulletin.