Arts Lab 6.0: Rahaf Ghanam - Month 4

I want to reassure you first, that I have finally recovered, and now I feel good and healthy. 

As for this month, even though I was still sick at the beginning, I went with my colleagues to attend the exhibition at the House of Culture where we played with the children a little, and organized some activities and performances on stage. 

I sang “Made in Romania” with the children, in addition to performing my cover of the song “cine iubește şi lasă”. We and the children were extremely happy; we laughed and enjoyed a lot. Finally, we made up for the missed Christmas market by attending the Târgu Frumos Christmas market, where we sold many of our handmade crafts and earned money this time🤞🏻. 

I was very proud and happy with the turnout at our booth. 

We also danced to many songs and music, and I met some Rroma children, with whom we danced, sang, and had a great time. We returned home with a great sense of satisfaction and happiness despite the cold and fatigue.

The next day, we facilitated the MAF exhibition in Iaşi at Negru café, where the atmosphere was artistic, intimate, and poetic thanks to the unique decorations of this café. 

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the owner for hosting us in this beautiful place, as he shows deep interest in everything related to art and beauty. I was very pleased that he also attended. 

We facilitated the exhibition with our artworks, my friends and I, and I conducted some activities before my performance to delve deeper into the exhibition theme, which is Romanian mythology. Then, I performed my show, and I was very happy with the audience’s interaction.

Finally, on this day, we received our residence permits in Romania, which was worth celebrating!

The following evening, we had the opportunity to learn about the Rroma community for our next museum project through a presentation and videos prepared by our coordinator, Mihaela. We concluded the night with Santa reveal, marking the start of the Christmas holiday. Speaking of this, most of my friends traveled to other countries, and during the first week, it was just me, Savane, and Sona at home, where we had the best times together. We cooked delicious dishes, danced to music all the time, sang karaoke, watched many movies, and went to Iaşi to attend parties and hang out with some friends. The following week, I stayed alone but tried to fill my time by going to Iaşi now and then, doing things that make me happy, like watching series and movies, dancing, and listening to music until my friends finally returned, and life returned to normal. We also had a nice and special visitor, Sona’s mom, who was very kind and gave us mom’s vibes at home, which we missed so much. She prepared the most delicious dishes for us with Sona during the Armenian night, where we ate, danced, and watched many videos about Armenia. We realized how amazing the country is, and I definitely plan to visit it in the future.

On the practical side, we started facilitating Rroma workshops, and today was my first day. I had many students, most of them from the Rroma community. I was fortunate that they chose my workshop, where we started by expressing the workshop theme with their visions of a better life. Then we played many games through which we got to know Rroma music, songs, and danced a lot. They were wonderful, warm-hearted, and I felt their love and admiration, which made my day and warmed my heart to see them and feel their love.

I am very much looking forward to this workshop and what we will create together in terms of memories, dances, and songs.

We are currently preparing to travel to Bucharest, where we will start the mid-term there. I will have the opportunity to visit this wonderful city for the second time, but this time with all my friends, and it is expected that we will visit Brasov as well. I hope we have a safe trip and many, many beautiful moments and memories.

See you in my next report.

Be well!

Report written by Rahaf Ghanam, she's from Syria and she's one of the 14 volunteers participating in Arts Lab 6.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps program.