A set of challenges did not daunt 28-year-old Musa Tavşan, a teacher in the remote village of Hakkari in southeastern Türkiye. In fact, his solution to the transportation problem endeared him to his few students at the village school. Even in cold weather and rough terrain, Tavşan rides to school about 10 kilometers from his house every day on his horse.
Tavşan doesn't own a car but enjoys riding horses. When he was assigned to a school far from his hometown, he decided to mount his loyal horse, which also helps him to take a shortcut.
Climbing downhill and uphill, through muddy or snowy fields, he travels every weekday to Keçili, where his five students await him. He used to find the experience refreshing, during the warmer weather but nowadays, he is challenged by harsh weather. As thick snow slowly covers his route, Tavşan plans to end the practice in one month, when the area will probably be buried under 1 meter (3.28 feet) of snow.
“It is freezing in the morning. But when I see the children at the schoolyard, cheering me, I tend to forget what I endured along the road,” he told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Wednesday.
“Even teaching a single word to them at school is enough to endure this journey. I do it mostly to cheer up my students because they like seeing their teacher riding on a horse to school,” he shared.
But during snowfall in the coming days, Tavşan plans to keep his horse in the stable and would look for finding a house to stay in Keçili – at least until the snow thaws in the spring.
