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On an icy road snaking through the mountains that separate Turkey from Iran and Iraq, a military convoy rumbles along. Ragged children stand barefoot in the snow, waving at the conscripts as they peer through misted windows. They are headed towards Hakkari, the poorest corner of Turkey's predominantly Kurdish south-east and a launching pad for military operations against separatist PKK rebels in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. Decades of neglect and brutal repression have made the province synonymous with all that ails Turkey's 14m Kurds.

Born into poverty and normally destined to die in it, Gulustan Ircap said she now has a glimmer of hope in her life in the hamlet of Sahgeldi, set amid the gentle slopes and rugged cliffs of Turkey's remote eastern region.

“Drop, cover and hold on,” instructs an elderly man to a classroom full of Turkish primary school children who, on his command, leave their desks, squat down and cover their heads with their hands. This is an earthquake drill exercise.

Volunteers play an essential role within the Turkish Red Crescent Society, or “Kizilay” as it is known in Turkey. Every day, they help provide a wide range of services from first aid and care for the elderly to youth activities and disaster preparedness training around the country.

In schools and homes and coffeehouses across the country, the same question is being asked by teachers, journalists, local activists and religious leaders: “What will it take to get your daughter in school?”

“I don’t have the resources to scour every newspaper and website for contract opportunities. Through the dgMarket connection my company was able to bid on and win four contracts in Romania.”