Arts Lab 6.0: Soukaina Sekkan - Month 3

We started this month with a heartwarming event at Liceul Tehnologic Petru Rareș. It was a charity event where they collected food to donate to an elderly care home. Each of us had about five minutes to present ourselves with music from our home countries and talk about the workshops we were organizing at the school. It was such a meaningful way to connect with everyone and to share a bit of our culture.

The next day, we enjoyed our free day. The weather was sunny, and we took the opportunity to have a picnic and explore the town. It felt so refreshing to just walk around and enjoying being here.

After that, we continued working on the school wall. It was a big project, and the time was limited, so we often stayed until we were completely exhausted. But each moment was worth it. People start to give us offers to paint something for them, which felt so encouraging. What made it even more special was the help we received from our friends. Knowing that there are people supporting you and standing by your side made all the difference. The wall didn’t turn out exactly how we envisioned it, but it was still cool, and we were proud of what we achieved together.

One of the most magical moments this month was our trip to Ruginoasa. We attended a folkloric museum, and the entire place was covered in snow—it was my first time seeing so much of it! Of course, we couldn’t resist playing in the snow before visiting the museum. The museum itself was fascinating and gave me so much inspiration for my artwork, though, unfortunately, I didn’t have time to create that much. We also visited the palace, which was beautiful. But honestly, the best part was simply being in the snow and having so much fun together.

On the 24th of November, we did  a painting workshop at the youth center, Savane and I. The night before, we prepared the sketch and planned everything. We started the workshop with a fun guessing game, where everyone had to guess the name of a famous person written on a paper stuck to their head. Whoever guessed correctly got to paint while the others are still playing. Although there were a few mistakes in the painting, it didn’t matter—each person’s touch made it even better. In the end, we gifted the final artwork to the Justitie pentru Minori center, and it felt like such a beautiful, shared accomplishment.

On the 30th of November, we had Hungarian Night. Luca cooked so much delicious food, and it was amazing! The Kahoot game was hilarious, and the video she showed was really funny. It was such a fun and cozy evening.

We kicked off December with a little trip to Iaşi to see the Christmas market. The lights and decorations were magical, and we also visited the big church next the palace to explore it and discover its history.

The rest of the days were spent immersed in my artwork. I focused on working with clay, plaster, and textiles, trying to mix different materials together. It was challenging at first, but nothing worth doing is ever easy. I kept pushing, and in the end, I managed to finish everything on time.

On the 8th of December, we held our second exhibition. It went really well, and I received so many compliments. People kept asking about the techniques I used, especially for creating the wave effects, which were the hardest part. Their appreciation made all the effort worth it.

Recently, we also organized activities for kids on stage. They received gifts through a secret Santa initiative, and seeing their happiness was priceless. Their smiles lit up the whole event.

Yesterday, we planned for the Christmas market, and tomorrow we’ll see how it goes and how much money we can raise.

I ended the month with a fun trip to Iaşi. We had such a great time together, filled with laughter and joy. Now, I’m excited to see how well our creations sell at the market and what the next month has in store for us!

Report written by Soukaina Sekkan, she's from Morocco 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.