Gallipoli Youth Award Winners 2026: Walking in the Footsteps of Ancestors

“I don’t have any words in the dictionary that could describe that moment.”

Lexie is referring to a moment shared with kind strangers at a tea shop at the seaside in Çanakkale, Türkiye. Alongside her two fellow Gallipoli Youth Award recipients, she explained to some locals that they were in the country to commemorate their ancestors who fought at Gallipoli.

“The older man suddenly started crying,” Lexie recalled. “The other man explained, ‘He is crying because we respect your soldiers who fought so bravely so far from home, and we respect you for traveling this far to honour them. We were once enemies, but as Atatürk said, they are now our sons, and we are like family.’

Authentic exchanges like this strike our mission’s heart – peace through intercultural empathy, a mission which sprung from the horrors of war. The AFS Gallipoli Youth Award was a scholarship for three New Zealanders who committed to researching their WW1 lineage, and by doing so, embodied this mission. Travelling through Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Çanakkale, and Gallipoli, the recipients were warmly welcomed by Turkish host families, represented Aotearoa in cultural activities, and even had lunch with the Governor General!

Tauranga based Lexie’s two Great-Great Uncles, Herbert and George, both fought at Gallipoli, where George tragically buried his younger brother Herbert a few days after landing. Takikawa, hailing from Te Puia Springs in Te Tai Rāwhiti, commemorated his Great Uncle, Pāpa Rere Hauiti, who also fell during the battles in Gallipoli. Tim’s Great-Great Grandfather, Charles Sealy Verity, arrived in November 1915 and fortunately managed to safely evacuate the peninsula.

All three historical explorers felt emotional at the ANZAC Day service:

Takikawa says he’ll never forget the sight of the sun rising through the Gallipoli Peninsula, seeing his tīpuna named on the wall of honour or the feeling of spirit of all his ancestors standing with him on the hill:

“I te wā i runga au i a Chunuk Bair i tino rongo te wairua a ngā tīpuna hōia māori e takoto tonu ki runga whenua kē o Karipori.”

“While I was up on Chunuk Bair, I truly felt the spirit of the Māori ancestor soldiers who still lie on the foreign land of Gallipoli.” 

Lexie was awe-struck by the beauty of Anzak Koyu, or ANZAC Cove:

“The morning was so clear, full of stars which contrasted greatly to what would have been smoke and shrapnel 111 years ago….. One of the hardest things was trying to grasp how so much pain, death and darkness occurred there 111 years ago, when now it is really such a beautiful place.”

Tim noticed how quickly he felt cold at the dawn service, which was a catalyst for Tim’s empathy, bridging the gap between past and present:

“It felt incredibly moving to be in this sacred place and I felt honoured to be there. Knowing my great-great grandfather was at the same place filled me with immense sadness….During the service, I felt myself getting emotional as there was a display on the screen of the different soldiers who died, their age and what regiment/battalion they were a part of.. I saw someone aged 17, and that one hit too close to home.. I thought of my mum back home in New Zealand.”

The three planted a Pōhutukawa tree as representatives of the youth of New Zealand alongside Dame Cindy Kiro the New Zealand Governor General, who invited the trio out for lunch afterward.

As well as commemorating history, the students got to experience Turkish culture. Among the observations of interest were how extremely welcoming the country’s people were, a sense of pride exhibited in Turkish flags on almost every building, and a lot of car horn honking. Takikawa often felt car sick as his host mother navigated the traffic! Included in their extensive sight seeing were the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, the Ancient City of Ephesus (Efes), and Atatürk’s resting place at Anıtkabir. History was everywhere. As Lexie noted:

“One thing NZ doesn’t have is over 23,000 years of visible history as you step outside the apartment.”

The food made a notable appearance, including Simit – Turkish bread, Tavukgöğsü – a dessert made of shredded chicken breast and milk, Künefe, a desert made of shredded pastry covered in sugar syrup and filled with melted cheese, Poğaça – a breakfast pastry, stuffed peppers and grape leaves, and Lexie even tried a brain soup. Tim was surprised that Turkish people often don’t use knives at the dinner table, and that meal times were late.

Lexie described the impact of this 3 week trip to Türkiye:

“This experience has opened my eyes and connected places I’ve only ever read about in books my whole life to actually seeing them in person”

As well as truly connecting to their past and exploring historical sites, the scholarship recipients gained a deeper perspective on global events, and made lifelong friends, even overcoming assumptions they had about that part of the world before they arrived, as Tim put it:

“It was a reminder that beneath cultural differences, people are people everywhere.” 

Thanks again to the AFS Türkiye, the AFS Educational Trust, the Michael Jull Memorial Trust, the NZ Embassy in Türkiye for helping AFS New Zealand to make this experience possible for these three amazing students.