Arts Lab 7.0: Salma Hussein | Month VI - It’s happening, and the end is getting closer!

It’s crazy that the only thing that made the goodbyes feel real is the empty spaces on the wall after Hedvika and Monica took their Secret Santa envelopes. This month couldn’t be harsher than this, and now everything feels nostalgic. I miss even our fights. They didn’t believe me when I said that my love language is fighting with the people I love. Fights, in this case, always break the ice and get people closer and more comfortable together, and actually, it’s so much more intimate, because why would you care if it’s someone who means nothing to you? And now I just feel like Joey in Friends when he tried to pick a fight with Chandler before he was moving out, to make it feel easier, as if fights mean continuity and give the feeling that there’s no goodbye coming. Yes, they just became the family to me that I can’t imagine living without again, and I guess I have to just live with the heartbreakingly warm memories, because I know deep down I will never find people like these again.

To continue the craziness of this month, I experienced my first caravan, and yes, from the name of it, it already sounds very interesting, and it really was! We went to an amazing school in Pașcani, and of course, I started my day there by making new friends. My first one was the cute, kind, and smiley cleaning lady. After 3 seconds, we were already talking and laughing in the hall of the school, and she was really helpful and nice. This made me think: how can someone be that kind and patient with people, even though they always have a heavy and hard job? But this is the charm of humans, and I guess of Pașcani especially, because it amazes me every time with how kind its people are.

This day was really special for me, even though I didn’t sleep well and I was expecting nothing, to be honest, because I didn’t know how the caravan would look. But after I interacted with the students for just 3 minutes, everything got better. I was really happy and proud of them every time I gave them something to do, whether it was clay, drawing, writing, or even an improvisation scene. I found them invested in it and enjoying every second. And then I remembered again why I’m here, and why it’s so important for them to experience every kind of art, and even tap into emotions like we’ve been doing for 2 months with them through our emotions project. To give them a safe space to discover these emotions and go through this journey with us, and maybe we can discover together, through art, how we can heal our anger, sadness, loneliness… without pretending that we’re okay when we’re not, because this is just part of our humanity, and we have to learn how to accept and love it.

In the caravan, one girl was so surprised by how nice I was to her and everyone else, and this made me question, until now: why is this not the regular thing? Because IT IS. Why should someone be that surprised and grateful that someone is being nice to them? Through my experience in this project, I just discovered how it feels to be on the other side of schools. Of course, I was bullied when I was in school, but I only saw it from my perspective, like I was completely alone in this world. And now I’m not a student anymore, but I’m there, in schools that aren’t mine, dealing with students who aren’t me, but somehow, they have the same experiences I had at their age. But this time, I’m actually not helpless, and I can do something. And I hope the next generation can know how life-changing this project is. I was only seeing how much it changed my life, but now I see the impact on the people around me. I just feel like I won the lottery, and I can’t be more grateful. I never want to stop being present, because for some reason, being with youth heals me like it heals them.

Talking about this project, we spent Easter all together 3 days ago, and I was so emotional because this was the first Easter for my friends spent apart from their families. And actually, it was the same in March for us as Muslims, because we also spent our Eid here without our families for the first time. And as much as all of us cried during both holidays, something in this was bringing us closer, because we found the second family that we actually need. And next year, it will be an amazing memory and stories to tell when we are home, but the thing that will always remain is the love we had for each other.

During the stress of the Emotions artworks and project, I was so lucky to have my day with Monica and Hedvika at the spa here in Târgu Frumos, to try something new for me and have a girls’ day. Laughing while eating shawarma, sitting in the park, enjoying the sun with relaxed, clean bodies and the sound of the church in the background, I think I was so lucky, and maybe a bit stupid, to build here a real home that I will feel the same homesickness for when I go back to Egypt. Someone can be sad and happy at the same time, right?

I think this was the month of trying new things, and I was so happy to do my first podcast here with the youth, talking about anger, how they see it from their own perspective, and how they actually deal with it. It was so refreshing, a fresh breath of air, listening to them talk about themselves and their thoughts. And the relief they felt after was incredible. I just enjoy people talking about the things they believe in, and I was grateful for their help and how they believed in the power of podcasts, because it’s actually not just a trend, but something that can bring people closer and open new doors for youth to express themselves and their emotions.

Hedvika and Monica’s goodbye parties were a combination of craziness, tears, and dopamine! We celebrated Hedvika in the forest with fire and barbecue, dancing and singing. And then we took dance to another level at Monica’s party, where Marah did an ecstatic dance rave with us, and it was AMAZING! The amount of connection we built together through dance was something I can’t describe, only feel deeply. The laughter, the eye contact with so much unspoken conversation inside, everything was different.

But the crème de la crème of this month was the opening of Open HeART Hub and the emotions exhibition. I’m just so lucky not only to witness the transformation of the hub, but also to work in it and have my own relaxation corner, so whenever people feel angry, they can just go there, paint, listen to music, or just be together without even a word, and then talk when they feel like it. I’m glad that our generation was always together in both the good and the bad, and that even through stressful and sad times, we always find our laughter again.

This was Salma, from the BEST TOWN EVER - TÂRGU FRUMOS!!!!!