MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed - Women always make great efforts in every sphere of life. Aysel Arslan is a female shepherd watching her flock with a shepherd's crook in the Kulp district of Diyarbakır province. She has worked as a shepherd for eight years both in winter and summer. She built a stable next to her house to look after the animals. She wakes up early in the morning and works until the evening to look after the sheep and goats.

“Women work harder than men”

At noon, she takes the sheep and goats to the mountains and grazes them until the evening, “We don’t have many agricultural lands here, so we raise animals to make a living. I also raise animals. I have worked as a shepherd for eight years. I take the sheep and goats to the mountains and graze them both in winter and summer. I watch them holding my crook. Women also work as shepherds here like men. Women work harder than men here. We look after animals and do housework.”

“I watch animals for hours on the mountains”

Aysel looks after animals and does housework. She works day long. She told us that she is happy being in nature even if her job is a hard job. “In the morning, I clean the stable. At noon, I take my animals to the mountains to graze them. I watch them for hours. They come together with their babies when we return home. I put them in the stable and go home. I know all mountains very well.”

“I love my animals and mountains”

Aysel has many difficulties, particularly in winter, but she overcomes these difficulties. She kept working while speaking with us, “We have difficulties particularly in winter, our animals sometimes are hungry or go missing. We raise animals to make a living. Every job is difficult but I love my animals and mountains very much. I have lived here for years. People living here raise animals to make a living. I make money from the animals to raise my children. My children help me.”