FilizZeyrek/JINHA

 ADANA –Homeless women in the poor neighborhood of Dağlıoğlu in Adana say that life is hard in the shanties where they live. "Life means poverty, life means having nothing," says HalimeAcar, an 80-year-old migrant woman who struggles to survive in the neighborhood.

HalimeAcar, 80, was just 10 when she and her family were forced to migrate from Mardin province, in Northern Kurdistan, to the Mediterranean city of Adana. Now, after losing her husband and four children to illness, Halimeis struggling to support herself.

Mice are constant visitors toHalime's cabin, where the smallest winter rains flood the bare floor.Halime, whose lined face shows the marks of a lifetime of exile as a poor migrant, attempts to maintain both herself and her sick child on the income from her handicrafts. As Halime's health declines, so does her ability to make the muslim gauze and painted kerchiefs. Her stocks are declining and she says she is in danger.

 "There have been days when we've gone hungry when no one helped us. I have knee problems and I can't do anything," she said. "I want help. Let someone extend a hand, or we won't be able to live much longer. We have no one but God."

 (fz/fk/cm)