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Hiba Al Thahabi

Syria

It was not easy for Hiba to pack her bags almost monthly and move from country to country in search of safety. From Syria, Hiba was desperate to find stability for her family and six children.

After her family had settled in Turkey, they got busy restoring their lives but Hiba still felt tired and even bored. At the age of 39, Hiba wanted to occupy herself and develop her skills, even if that meant entering into a world completely unknown to her, namely the world of coding.

Who knew that Hiba would become the talk of the Turkish press and be honoured for her winning application promoting tourism in Istanbul?

She wanted to invest everything she learned through the One Million Arabs Coders initiative and make use of all the advice she gathered from trainers. She built an application that shows tourists the best places to visit in Istanbul, allowing them to leave comments and ask questions, and find the best tourist spots based on their geographic location and interests. Hiba says: “I designed Visit Istanbul for those looking for guidance and someone to hold their hand. The coding supported me when I came to Turkey, so I wanted to give support as well”.