Raindrop Turkish House

Next to being a home to Turkish-Americans, Raindrop Turkish House addresses their social and cultural needs and helps them integrate into this multicultural society better. The mission of Raindrop is to introduce Turkish culture into American society and cultivate friendship and promote the understanding of diverse cultures through its unique servi... ces to the community, through dialog and corporation. Raindrop organizes every year its traditonal Turkic Cultures and Children's Festival where the kaleidoscope of varying people from Turkic World is showcased. Representative bodies and communities from Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, The Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan and more celebrate the rich mosaic of variant cultures and heritages with the help of both local and international sponsors. Not only an educational accomplishment for those mesmerized by the amazing sights or for those involved, the Turkic Cultures and Children's Festival is an entertaining event that joins together international communities. This event includes the famous Ottoman Army Band, handcrafts, calligraphy, music groups, folk dances, and of course delicious worldwide known Turkish cuisine. One of the main events that Raindrop Turkish House organizes is the annual Turkish Language and Culture Olympiad. Turkish is one of the critical languages under the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI). NSLI is an interagency initiative of the Departments of State, Education, and Defense, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The initiative is designed to dramatically increase the number of Americans learning critical need foreign languages such as Turkish, Chinese, Persian and others through new and expanded programs from kindergarten throughout university and into the workforce. In order to encourage students to study Turkish and start doing this as early as possible, Raindrop has been organizing Turkish Language and Culture Olympiad with an increasing participation each year. Raindrop organizes and sponsors ...Read More