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It is 10 in the morning. My teammate Arus takes the key out of the padlock on the door and opens the youth center in Aradului. I open the door on the other side, as wide as possible. We come in and throw our backpacks on the sofa, which is close to the entrance. We sit down and discuss our work plan for today. After that, Arus is going to get tools for today’s work and puts the gloves on. Meanwhile, I am turning on the huge speaker and connecting my phone to it. After it is connected, I am looking for the playlist on Spotify, which I made for parties long time ago. The music is filling the room fast and gets both of us into the mood for work. Dancing along with the rhythm of the song, we are starting to work.
Today we have decided to fix the way the windows look. At first, we get some things necessary for cleaning to remove layers of dust and pieces of old paint. Full of energy, we are working while singing and dancing. The area around stops being quite and empty. We notice that people are passing by and looking in the direction of our center with a lot of curiosity. It is not a surprise, they have been probably taking the same road often and nothing was happening around here for more than half a year. It is absolutely clear that loud music and open doors attract most of the attention.
Most of the people nearby randomly throw a glance and keep going. Meanwhile, Arus is taking a can of paint and moving a small ladder closer to the window. I am coming to help her keep the balance. A song, which was popular in our childhood, starts to play. We are singing together, and I am trying not to forget about the ladder I am holding.
We see a few kids running in front of the center and trying to find out what is inside. The bravest ones are coming inside and fighting the invisible monsters with their toy weapons. We are looking at them and laughing, while a mother of one of them is shouting “Davide, haide!”
I have decided to go and tell mothers about our project. Fortunately, one of them speaks English and expresses her interest in our activities. I am telling her about our plans for the center and invite her to follow our page on Facebook (which she did!).
During the day other people come in and ask what is going on. Some of them even offer their help. Some say that they will visit us, when they hear loud music all around the street again. This kind of meetings give us even more energy and motivation than the music we are listening to.
We are making just the first steps in changing the everyday tempo of the place. The whole story is yet to come. Aradului, get ready!
Katsia
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