I really wanted to make her feel better but I didn’t really know what to say, so I just asked: ‘Do you want to come in for a cup of tea?’

“I was on the way home a few days ago when I met this girl from the neighbourhood. She looked very upset, crying on the street. So I said: ‘Hi!’ and asked ‘Is everything okay?’ Then she just started to tell me about her crappiest day ever. She said she had lost her best friend because a stupid fight and that her mom is depressed all the time and she was bullied in school all day…. I really wanted to make her feel better but I didn’t really know what to say, so I just asked: ‘Do you want to come in for a cup of tea?’ She said yes and when we walked in the door, she looked up, her eyes opened up, and she was like: ‘Woooww!!’ – you see, my house is full of paintings and weird stuff. It’s messy but very colourful. On the way in I was even thinking about how messy my house was and how I left the tobacco out all over the table. But she didn’t seem bothered at all. She said it was the coolest apartment she has ever seen and that it looks exactly like her dream house. All normal from the outside but wonderful and crazy on the inside. I asked her if she wanted to paint with me so we did. She painted the biggest canvas we could find with lots of bright colours. She used like 10-12 brushes and when she finished, her face had changed completely. She was beaming! I may have made her feel better that day but she also made me realise how lucky I am. Maybe I am weird and sometimes I feel I don’t really fit anywhere, but my art was able to make this girl feel better about herself and lift her up from a dark place.  She made me feel so rich and lucky… I guess, sometimes all we need is someone to wake us up about our own life and remind us how lucky we are.”