Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is really my superhero.
That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives, and emotions about this world. In these difficult times in human history,
we need to bring the people of the world together. And when we hear the voices of women, when
we listen to real lives of women from other countries, we connect our cultures without
differences or stereotypes, and we get inspired by their stories to live a better life. That's
what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Islam bin Hasuna. Islam is a Tunisian girl,
a computer science student, and an artist. Islam is a leader in Girl Scouts, a trainer
and young researcher in UNICEF, a member of Microsoft Club, a member in Junior Enterprise
Association, and she is fond of painting, drawing, dancing, and astronomy. Islam, how
are you today? Hi, Aziz. I'm really great. How about you? I'm feeling lucky to be alive,
grateful to have the opportunity to speak with you and explore your personality, your
thoughts, your voice. And so I will begin with this nice first question. If your friends
could describe your personality, what would they say about you? That's a really good question.
So I think if my friends describe me as a person, they would say that they see two sides
of me, two sides of my personality. I mean, in some situations, they will find me positive,
funny, full of energy, creative. I mean, I have innovative ideas. At some point, and
at some points, I'm courageous, friendly, and most importantly, kind. And in other serious
situations that needs thinking, they would say that I'm wise, responsible, calm, smart,
serious. So yeah, it depends on the situation, I think, and maybe even the person too, because
we know that we don't behave with our friends like with our families sometimes.
I understand that 100% and it makes me think you are someone who seemed to have analyzed
your personality and you are interested in astronomy. Did that interest begin first with
astrology and then it evolved into astronomy? Or were you a little girl who loved looking
at the stars, imagining what is out there and being curious about the space outside
of Earth?
Well, no, I'm not. I didn't begin this passion with astrology and I don't think I believe
in them. But actually, like you said, this passion begins in my little ages where I start
looking in the sky, in the sky full of awe and mysteries and all of these stuffs make
me think, who are we? Where are we? I wanted to discover all this universe, all these mysteries,
all this extraordinary creation that God has created and given us, all these things that
we have to be grateful about. I wanted to explore it in mathematic ways, in physical
ways, to discover all this. And I began with videos on YouTube, like with time, I began
like to discover more and more space, all this beautiful creation, the stars, moons,
planets. All of this is a really wonderful thing. I'm so grateful that it's my passion.
And actually, this evening I have a presentation in astronomy. I'm a trainer at Microsoft and
the topic that I'm going to talk about is astronomy. So I made this training to help
people know about astronomy more and maybe like share with me my passion, share my passion
with people. I want to share it with people because I like this. I like all this universe.
From the beginning, I wanted to be like in this field, but I am now a computer science
student, but maybe one day this work will lead me to astronomy and my passion.
Thank you. That's so interesting. And I can feel your passion and emotions behind every
word. And it makes me curious, is astronomy space a source of inspiration for your art?
Did you learn any lessons from astronomy that made you a better painter? Is it related or
maybe painting inspired your astronomy practice? Tell me about this relationship between the
two.
Actually, that's an extraordinary question. So maybe the two sides, maybe I get inspiration
of stars. When I look up to the sky, when I, when I see the moon, when I see nature,
all of this, the earth, I feel inspired. That inspires me to draw. That makes me so curious
to see how my fingers can translate what I see into a painting, into emotions, into something
I feel deeply. Because when I see this mysteries, when I see this wonderful views, I want to
try painting it maybe to get not that close to real pictures, but I want to like, let
all of this out of my hand into a drawing that that is so good. And in the other hand,
I want as well, when I draw something, anything, I, I want to discover space because when I
draw something like when I drew, I don't know, a moon or stars or even planets, I want,
that will make me more curious about space that will make me love it more and more because
when you draw, this will make you feel like you want to, to discover all this world or
this life, life lessons, all of that, even space and astronomy.
I agree 100% and it's truly inspiring that it adds flavor to life. I believe it's the
food for the soul, the nourishment. Some people think only their bodies need food, but the
soul needs food as well. And speaking about a topic that is important to you, that is
more grave, which is domestic violence. You participated in some competitions where you
made drawings related to domestic violence. Your drawings were very highly regarded and
appreciated to you. How do you view this problem? What's your perspective on it? Tell me, how
do you feel about it? Well, I remember this amazing experience I
had last year. I participated in a competition and I was awarded the second prize. It was
the topic about women in general. And I chose to talk about a sensitive topic that is spreading
in our society more and more, and it's violence against women and especially domestic violence.
So for me, it's so sad that we're still talking about domestic violence and violence against
women nowadays. In fact, women are still beaten, beaten, abused, bullied, threatened in physical
and mental ways. So when we're talking about violence, not only physical, sometimes even
verbal one, they, the verbal effect have a really catastrophic effect on a person mentally.
I mean, so women are feeling afraid, trapped, and maybe overwhelmed, and it can lead to
them to experience depression, anxiety, and some points and addicted, they became addicted
to drugs and alcohol, which is not a really good thing. And, you know, when we're talking
about women, we're talking about our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our wives, it's
every, she is everywhere in our society affecting women is automatically affecting all parts
of the society. Because when we're talking about women, we're talking about building
generations, raising children. So basically, I'm so sad that we know that laws are forbidding
violence against women. They prevent it. And we know that they are a woman's rights, women
rights, but the fact, the sad thing that all of this is still ink on papers, they are still
not practically doing in our society. So basically, we have to let women talk because, you know,
when we're talking about a sensitive topic like this, people would say why women are
still silent, why they don't go to police, call anyone to help, even maybe family or
relatives. Yeah, it's true. But we don't know this creature, the woman, what experienced
because with afraid like numbers, we have one out of three women that experienced violence
at the hand of their husband and partners. And the abuse can lead to injuries as well
as physical and mental health problems. And in some cases, even death, you know, and there
is 38% of murders of women globally are committed by their male partners. This is scary numbers.
And we have all to support women because we have to change all backwards mentality that
normalize violence against women. We have to stand for women. They are afraid to speak.
They have to speak loud and not let themselves be victims to violence against women and domestic
violence because nowadays we're developing and rising. It's not acceptable to let this
issue spread in our society. Talking about children, if a mother is affected by domestic
violence automatically, their children will be in danger. They will be affected because
they see their mother bitten or hidden. This will be a really problem for not even women,
but all the society. I agree 1000%. I salute your concern and your
active work towards that. And it's a problem that needs to be solved. Like you said, all
the backwards mentalities or anything that normalizes violence against women must be
stopped and I'm sure with the help of you and other women who are actively and everyone
else who is actively working on this, there will be a day when it is. And speaking about
society, you are from Tunisia. Tunisia is a small country. Maybe some people in the
world have not heard of it or maybe never met any person from Tunisia or if you tell
them show Tunisia on the map, they don't know where it is. If you could share, what is the
unique culture of Tunisia that makes it different to its neighboring countries? How are Tunisian
girls in 2023? How is their mentality? Are they more European, more Asian, like influenced
by anime and K-pop, more Arab or African or anything like that? Tell me more details.
Well, my country. Okay. I love my country so much and it's true that a lot of people
didn't hear about it. It's a small country situated, located in North of Africa. So our
country is so special. I say in French, petite comme ça, éficasse comme ça. Like we're
a small country, but so various. I think in our country, there are various categories
of our society. We accept differences. We have many religions, many races. We are different.
Basically we're in North Africa. We're near to Europe and near to, we are located in Africa.
So basically we are so various and this gives it a special thing that it will be the differences
that will provide an atmosphere full of tolerance and new ideas, very various ideas. So basically
I want to talk about the beauty of our country. It's full of green places and we call Tunisia
green Tunisia because it's a destination. It's a touristic place. It's a destination
of many visitors that will love Tunisia as much as we do. I know there are many things
that characterize Tunisia because we have an ancient cultures. We have the religion
part like the majority of the Tunisians are Muslims, but they are other religions in Tunisia.
We have a city Besaid. It's a very beautiful city that everyone should visit. It's so,
so like characters characterized by its walls, white walls with the doors and the windows.
They are blue. It's a very, very beautiful place to visit and many, many other wonderful
places. I love my Tunisia and I, I feel like it's so good. But the, the young there like
in my age, they are like so full of life, of love, of passion. We're, we are updated
to many things. You can find who loves enemy, who loves K-pop, K-dramas. They're the ones
who likes, I don't know, American series, K-pop and other things. So basically we are
so various there and we are updated and open to all cultures and civilizations.
That is wonderful. I recommend to everyone to visit your country, to meet its kind people,
to discover all the different places and to ask even more about you right now. You study
computer science, you love painting and astronomy and you're an active within the Girl Scouts
as well as a mentor, etc. So you have very diverse and varied experiences, skills, interests.
What is your dream for the future? Is there something that you're preparing yourself to
become, I don't know, all these interests will be ideal for you to become a politician
or is it that you think the future will invent new jobs and new careers and you will be one
of the women who are leaders at those new directions? Or how do you see your future
and how can it reflect your very interesting and diverse personality?
I don't think I would be a political, as you said, but I think I see myself in the future
as developing and working on my skills more and more. Maybe I will set up my own startup
or something, start selling my drawings or maybe something like that. I'm just thinking
about it more and more, but for now I want to develop that skill to embrace it more.
So in order to become in the future something that is a passion on one hand and a source
of money maybe, I want as well to combine my work as a computer scientist with astronomy,
with painting all together. Maybe, I don't know, because computer science is open to
all sorts of categories, I think, to all topics. So basically it has a relation, a good relation
with astronomy. They are using new technologies in astronomy to watch with telescopes, I don't
know, with the spacecrafts and something like that. They need computer science, they need
this to develop. And with painting, I think it has a relation with my field because of,
you know, there are digital arts right now, there are things that are relative, so maybe
I can combine this. And I see myself in the future like I'm willing more, I'm curious
more and more to learn new things, to experience new ideas. I accept learning and I want to
be opened in all ways. So maybe I think I'll be a successful woman and a powerful one and
I wish I would be that.
I wish that for you and I believe you can do it, so I encourage you to always keep going
to follow all your dreams, to not let anyone tell you you cannot do it. And thank you Islam,
this was my privilege and my honor to have you on this podcast. I really enjoyed listening
to your perspective, hearing your voice and I wish you more and more success every day,
every month and every year. Thank you again.
Thank you Aziz for this opportunity. Thank you for having me. It's my first time participating
in a podcast and it was a really good adventure and a really wonderful experience. Thank you
again.
