Home Project

The way I chose to engage young people in creative writing on the HOME project was by developing the idea of Postcard Thoughts. 

Participants wrote down ideas, thoughts and comments about the themes they’d explored over the weeks, through photography, radio and video, on 'postcards'. 

Some of these comments were then collated and edited into two group poems.  One is called HOME IS MORE THAN A POSTCODE, a reflection of the concept behind the project.  The other is called SEX AND LOVE.

WORRIES, by Zakia Hussen

Why is it that worries lead to many things?
Many things that will lead to nowhere nice?
Worry gives life to anxiety
And anxiety is poison for the soul.
Why is it that worries occupy my mind
When I cannot solve my problems thinking about them?
Why do I worry when I know the sunrise brings hope every morning?
Why do I waste time worrying when worrying doesn’t solve a thing?
Why is it that worries lead to many things
When most things are not worth worrying about?

HOME IS MORE THAN A POSTCODE - a collective poem created during the HOME project.

My home is where I find a kind of love,
For love is a necessity,
Something I need, whatever its form,
Yet love brings poverty in my home,
And poverty means struggling.

In life I've found that money makes the world go around,
It breaks the furniture in my home,
And makes me angry when my parents don't buy me anything,
Jealousy with money is like gambling for greed,
Yet money can't buy love, I know….it's in my home.

What's life without family and friends?
Nothing, for they bring love, safety and……cash.
Debt brings tears to family and friends where I live,
But if time is money, then money is life….or is it?
Nonetheless I love family and life is about sharing.

The devil's game of shopping creates a false sense of warmth.
A life without future nevertheless longing for a future,
But I have an Aspiration to become someone,
Reaching for a God,
And to a World of Happiness.

The family is the most important institution in society,
It provides true safety, friends,
And secures us from crime.
But what about the gangs on my estate,
Where are their families?

My home is a place where I feel happy and safe.
But I hate my estate cuz there's no hope for the war on drugs,
I never feel safe on the streets of this ghetto,
For pride never makes you safe.
But area is an ok place to travel to from where I live.

My area does not shape my identity nor define me.
But I want to be more than the label attached to me.
Break boundaries that extend further than my postcode.
Escape from the ghetto, live for today.
Don't, look back coz life goes on.

SECRET SINS by Puja Majithia

The other day I saw a bra for £95
It sounds great when you have the pounds.
I have dreams of buying, buying, buying!
Hermes, Dior, Channel and Louis Vuitton
Are my secret sins!

Think before you buy….
Warns my bank balance.
I'm being punished for my empty pockets!

SECURITY by Tahirah Edwards Byfield.

Security is a virtue.
But how many times when walking through London
Do you actually feel virtuous?
There streets aren't secure,
So where do I seek solace?

Amidst these old dark streets,
Stands a place full of virtue and solace,
A place that is filled with security and happiness
This place is my home, where my family live.

ALIVE by Mohammed Mahbub Hussain

I am proud to be who I am
I am proud of the way I am.
I am alive because
I have a lot to life for.
I have many dreams that I wish to
Reach for.
I have many journeys to make.
My life is like a sentence and
I am the dot that completes it.

SEX AND LOVE - a collective poem.

I am never jealous because I always get sex,
Sex is the solution,
I live in the world, I sleep in my bed,
Is there more to that I should want?

Hell is what I hate, heaven is what I want.
Longing for warmth,
So I escape to sex to find love,
Fill the emptiness around me.

Identity is what I have
Love is what I die for.
Love is unique,
It can be shown in different ways.

My dreams involves the heaven,
As they gather to reach God in heaven,
Love is Identity, family, friends and security
Live life,

And you will go to heaven.