Payam Hassan is a 25 year old girl from the city of Kalar in Garmian administration. After she was diagnosed with heart and lung diseases, she eventually had to drop out of school, and last year, she started drawing and making accessories.
After a café owner from Kalar took Hassan’s story to social media, philanthropists in the city decided to hold an exhibition where she could sell her artwork.
“After we made a feature video for social media and published it, in the feature the talented Payam asked for an exhibition for her work. Gladly, many people came forward and we decided to open an exhibition for her,” Aram Nouri, the owner of Milat cafe told Rudaw.
Hassan draws and makes accessories on a daily basis and considers it as a comfort zone, away from her illness.
“Apart from my drawings, I also spend time with handicraft as much as I can. On a daily basis, I spend time doing this. Some days I make a necklace, another day I will make a bracelet, sometimes I get uncomfortable as my oxygen level drops, and in order to not think about my disease, I distract myself with this,” Hassan said.
Hassan’s illness can be treated in Germany through implantation surgeries, and she claims they cannot afford the process.
“I went to India for three years to get treatment, I need heart and lung implant, but due to Covid-19, we could not get the organs and I came back. Now we have contacted a doctor in Germany who says that there is a solution there and they can do the implant surgery. But we cannot afford it, someone has to help us to get to that country and get treated,” she said.
At the end of her exhibition, Hassan was able to collect a million and 700,000 dinars from selling her work.
