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MAKING CONNECTIONS THROUGH ART SAKINA M'SA, FRANCE
My name is Sakina, I am a fashion designer.
I was born on the Comoros islands and brought up by my grandmother,
who was an animist and a wonderful woman.
I came to France when I was 7 years old and eventually studied fashion.
Then I was lucky to meet someone who told me about Buddhism.
When I had finished my studies and had my diploma under my belt, I set off to conquer Paris.
I found an internship that was to be my "school of life,'' because I found a place to stay in Bagnolet in the 93rd department
where I learned the importance of connecting with my local environment.
To me this meant focusing on the area I lived in and what I had, without counting my neighbors' wealth
or comparing myself with someone else who may have found a better internship with a well-known designer.
I had to be forward-looking. I had to take action, I just had to get on with it and feel grateful.
I realized that each person I had met was great and was giving me so much.
It was at this point, after receiving agreement from the local City Hall, that I set up fabric workshops.
People came on a voluntary basis, and I called these "social fabric workshops.''
THE START OF A NEW LIFE
When I was 23 or 24, I received a beautiful gift. I met a business partner
who wanted to open a shop selling my clothing in the Place Vendôme, a prestigious location in Paris.
This gave me the freedom to use my imagination, the freedom to travel
and the freedom to create.
At that time, I was able to employ some people in Portugal to make up my designs.
And then I received an even better gift. My business partner suddenly disappeared!
Of course at the time this seemed like a tragic turn of events
but in the end, it became another chapter in my life.
I don't remember how, but somehow I came back to my Buddhist practice and I received my Gohonzon.
I really started a new life and I moved to Barbès, a very diverse neighborhood.
SOCIAL INTEGRATION THROUGH ART
I think what saved my life and helped me to transform it, is art.
Art is what gave me my freedom.
With the desire to share art with others, I decided to bring women and children living in my local area to a museum.
The idea was to go there regularly, together with women who were facing difficulties. We chose 20 masterpieces, and one of the paintings,
"Les demoiselles des bords de la Seine'' by Courbet became their main inspiration.
The women then came to the workshop to create clothes, using recycled fabrics given to us by an association called Emmaüs.
They had to be inventive and imaginative.
We organized an exhibition of our work and, over a two-month period, it was seen by 25,000 people.
This was a great real-life experience and a way to show that ultimately each person shines with a beautiful light.
By staying optimistic and joyful, with a smile, we can give hope to others, even just a single person.
I was working with women from Morocco and Mali who couldn’t speak French fluently
yet we could understand each other through art and the international language of our hearts.
BRINGING ANOTHER DIMENSION TO BUSINESS
My wish for now and the future is to move things in a new direction.
We must think about sustainable development, think of ecology.
Those who create fashion should be involved in the field of social integration as well as in recycling
and I felt I wanted to add something extra. I am a businesswoman, I make clothes and I sell them.
I want to sell them and in doing so, demonstrate another dimension, another way of doing business.
This other way lies in how one thinks of human resources, in taking an interest in each person working for you, where she is living
if she needs some support in order to be independent, maybe she needs help with literacy for example.
So during work hours, a social integration counselor comes to the office,
a social worker who can help to solve some personal problems.
Other people may think that I am wasting my time,
that I am a bit whimsical or foolish, but after helping to solve all those difficulties,
I realize that I am a true businesswoman, as in the end I win because the women are happier
to come to work and they have become much more productive. This really is a win-win situation!
SHEDDING LIGHT ON HUMAN DIVERSITY
The collection you have seen during this film has been made only with recycled fabrics.
These fabrics were bought at very low prices, they are oddments or the end of lines from haute couture houses.
First we collect recycled fabrics, which highlights the diversity and the contrasts in society.
I mean that today we can have a garment made in one fabric and later I can make it in another material . . .
suddenly we are all different, each person is diverse, and this is what gives us our true richness and value.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SMILE
I now realize the importance of cultivating the heart.
The heart is what I have been experiencing in this Buddhist practice over the past few years.
In fact, this practice opens up something even beyond optimism, it opens up the precious word "hope'' which has a truly vital energy.
The smile is very important for me. I realized that with the street kids from Barbès,
they had such brilliant smiles on their faces, regardless of their situation.
And even more brilliant smiles when they came back from a museum or after seeing an exhibition, happy to share what they had seen.
As SGI President Daisaku Ikeda says, although I don't have his exact words
“It is important to be joyful and to smile, as when we smile, we bring joy.”
And, the more joy we have, the more we want!
I always had a complex about my smile, as I always smile in every situation.
Now, even when I’m facing obstacles, thanks to Daisaku Ikeda, thanks to the kids from Barbès, I can say I am proud to smile!