At the end of our 6-day summer camp for diabetic children, each participant was asked to share their feelings about their experience. The most impressive response came from a 16-year-old girl living with type 1 diabetes (T1D): “I’m not alone,—that’s the message I’m taking home with me.” This was also the simplest but most heartfelt answer elicited at the 23rd annual My Friend Diabetes Camp held on July 7−13, 2019.

Every July (since 1996), the camp staff—which include dedicated physicians, nurses, dietitians, and psychologists, all actively engaged in improving the health of diabetic children, as well as medical school students and young guides with T1D—come together with up to 90 diabetic children (8−18 years of age) from all over Turkey on the shores of Lake İznik. İznik (historic name Nicaea) is a legendary historical region famous for its ceramic tiles and pottery. Through the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods, it was not only the site of the first convention of the ecumenical council of the Christian church but also the very first Turkish capital city in Anatolia. The city is practically an open-air museum, with the immense sense of history along with the hypnotic view of Lake İznik, impressing and mesmerizing all visitors.

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