Celebrating Cooperation  &  Unity of Humanity

The Full Story:
Why This Became My Life's Work

The Seeds of a Dream

When I was a young boy, I saw my first film in a cinema: Dead Poets Society.

I watched Mr Keating stand on his desk, invite his students to see the world differently, and whisper, "Carpe diem — seize the day." I watched him see each student not for who they were supposed to be, but for who they truly were. I watched him create space for poetry, for life, for authentic expression.

Something in me recognised something in him. Years later, I realised: I had found my first teacher. Not in a classroom of my own, but on a cinema screen. Mr Keating became an idol to me — his compassionate view of people, his belief that everyone deserves to live their full potential, his way of connecting to life through art, poetry and presence.

I didn't know it then, but that film planted a seed that would grow throughout my entire life.

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The Story That Named My Dream

Years later, I heard another story — this time from Southern Africa — that gave words to what I had always felt.

An anthropologist placed a basket of sweet fruit under a tree and told the children of a village, "The first one to reach the tree gets all the fruit."

But instead of racing against each other, the children looked at one another, held hands, and ran together to the tree. When they arrived, they sat down in a circle and shared the fruit, laughing and enjoying it as one.

Puzzled, the anthropologist asked, "Why didn't you run to win the fruit for yourself?"

The children looked surprised by the question. One of them answered simply: "UNHU. How can one of us be happy if all the others are sad?"

UNHU is a philosophy from Southern Africa. It means "I am because we are." It recognizes that our humanity is not separate from one another's. We exist through our connections. We flourish through our relationships. We find meaning in our shared journey.

When I first heard this story, something deep within me said yes.

This was the world I had always dreamed of — not just imagined, but felt in my bones. The world where we run together, not against each other. Where one person's joy multiplies when shared. Where we hold hands and arrive together.

Even dreaming of such a world gave me a sense of bliss, of fulfillment,  finally knowing where I belong and what I'm here to do.

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Where I First Witnessed UNHU

This wasn't a new truth for me. I had already experienced it, though I hadn't yet found the words.

I grew up in a village in Turkey where this principle simply was — where neighbours supported each other without asking, where joy was shared and burden was carried together, where no one ate while their neighbour went hungry. It was the air we breathed.

I saw it again in nature, which I have always loved to observe. I watched how trees share nutrients through their roots, how birds call warnings to protect the flock, how entire ecosystems thrive through mutual support rather than pure competition. Nature itself lives by UNHU.

And I witnessed it most powerfully in my years with AKUT Search and Rescue Association. In the rubble of earthquakes, in the chaos of disasters, there was no competition. There was only we. We didn't count who saved more lives or who worked harder. We held each other up, worked as one organism, and served together because a life saved anywhere was a life saved for all of us.

In those moments of crisis, I saw humanity at its most beautiful — stripped of ego, connected by purpose, moving as one.

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Why This Became My Life's Work

The world I see around me often operates differently.

I see organisations where people compete instead of collaborating. I see teams where individuals protect their territory rather than share their gifts. I see cultures that celebrate the lone hero while forgetting we all need each other. I see people isolated in their struggles, believing they must carry everything alone.

And I see the cost: burnout, conflict, loneliness, disconnection, and the tragic waste of human potential that withers when we try to flourish in isolation.

But I have also witnessed the alternative. I have seen what becomes possible when people remember their interconnectedness:

• Teams that were stuck in conflict, discovering how to truly hear each other and creating something none of them could have built alone

• Leaders learning to hold space for others' growth instead of proving their own worth

• Families finding their way back to each other through authentic dialogue

• Individuals discovering that their wholeness includes both their strength and their vulnerability

These transformations don't just change the person in front of me. They ripple outward — into families, into teams, into organisations, into communities. Small shifts in one person's awareness create waves of change that touch countless others.

This is why I do this work. Not to fix people, but to facilitate the conditions where we remember who we already are: connected, whole, and infinitely capable of growing together.

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The Philosophy That Guides Everything

My practice rests on three interconnected pillars, and at their heart, they all point to the same truth:

Gestalt Therapy sees each person as a whole — not a problem to be solved, but a being in process. It recognises that we grow through contact, through awareness, through embracing all of who we are. Gestalt teaches me that healing and growth happen in relationship, in the space between I and you becoming we.

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) shows us that beneath all our words and actions are universal human needs. When we connect at the level of needs rather than strategies, when we listen with empathy rather than judgment, barriers dissolve. NVC reminds me that there is no "other" — only different expressions of the same human longing to be seen, heard, and valued.

UNHU weaves these together into a living philosophy. It declares that my humanity is inseparable from yours. That your joy increases my joy. That when I support your growth, I am supporting my own. That we are not separate beings trying to connect — we are already connected, and our work is to remember and honour that truth.

These three approaches don't just complement each other. They are three expressions of the same understanding: we grow together, or we don't truly grow at all.

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My Vision: A World of UNHU

I dream of a world where:

• Children naturally hold hands and run together, like those children under the tree

• Organisations are built on collaboration rather than competition

• Leaders ask "How can we all flourish?" instead of "How can I succeed?"

• Families create space for each person's authentic self while honouring their interconnection

• Communities support each member's growth because they understand that one person's suffering diminishes us all, and one person's joy enriches us all

This isn't naive optimism. I have seen this world. I have facilitated it. I have watched it emerge in boardrooms and classrooms, in families and teams, across cultures and continents.

It is possible. It is already happening. And it ripples outward every time one more person remembers: I am because we are.

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An Invitation to Remember

This is why I do what I do.

Not to teach you something new, but to create space where you remember what you already know deep down: that you are not alone, that your growth matters to all of us, and that the world becomes more whole when you step into your fullest potential.

Like Mr. Keating standing on his desk, I invite you to see things differently. Like those children under the tree, I invite you to imagine what becomes possible when we run together.

Because the world I dream of isn't somewhere far away. It begins in each conversation, each moment of genuine connection, each time we choose to see our humanity reflected in another.

If this vision calls to you, I invite you to explore how we might walk this path together.

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Ready to begin? Contact me or explore how I work to learn more.

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