About the Midnimo Centre

FABU UK (For All By Us) has been running for five years as a non-profit community organization with social purpose. FABU provides sarvices mainly for young people including entertainment, healthy food and advice as well as short courses, trips, eventrs and sports and music activities. FABU runs from the Midnimo Centre (Midnimo means Unity in Somali) in 163 Ashley Road, the area in St Pauls known as the Front Line.

The centre's main focus is on the young Somali community in St Pauls and Easton, however it is open to everyone to hire or pop by and enjoy its daily activities -internet access, pool table, cable TV, healthy food kitchen and meeting area. The space can be hired to people or organisations doing parties, meetings and events. Midnimo hosts meetings for the Somali elder generation, music workshops and rehearsals as well as other activities. Some organisations that have use it or still use it include Connections, Job Centre Plus, International Organisation for Migration, St Pauls Youth Promotions (with whom we have a strong link) and others.

This community Project has been designed to help towards the integration of the Somali community within other communities, bringing together the rich diversity of different people living in the same area or city, to share their own cultures in one place. We bring together different people from all walks of life, young and old, trying to break down social and cultural barriers through socialising in a safe environment, education, sport, music and arts.

The project is run by a small management team which is monitored by the FABU UK committee. In addition all youth members are consulted on a regular basis as to their needs, as well as how they want the project to develop.

To date there have been a number of success stories which include: Renovation of Midnimo Centre: The centre was built nearly from scratch, in a space that use to be a shop and had no floor or walls (the floor was four feet below the ground level). A timely and popular music documentary (Culture Clash - see in youtube.com) filmed with FABU UK youth members by local artists highlighting the divisions between various Bristol ethnic communities and looking forward to a solution. Education events and stalls to fight drug violence and promotin sex education in a format accessible to youths, making this centre a focus point of the Youth by working with Avon and Somerset Police to tackle crime by providing education on drugs and crime. A recent collaboration with Duke of Edinburgh Awards to promote young people's involvement in positive action within the community.

Midnimo Centre offers an exciting potential to further its aims and build on the hard work that has already gone into this unique organization. We aim to make the space accessible and appealing to young people of both sexes from all ethnic backgrounds in the local area. We are also working on the centre's kitchen serving healthy food to the general public, to not only bring in income but to increase awareness and cross over more boundaries. We see the organization as a platform for local artists and musicians, or people with any useful skills to promote themselves and share their knowledge, and the centre as a place where people from diverse and different backgrounds can meet, learn more of each other and celebrate their differences in a constructive and positive way. We are set up to support any local artists who wish to run workshops or contribute to established activities.

In the near future FABU aims to add: Regular workshops / classes ranging from drumming and kung fu to dance and drama, and we hope to attract young people from the area to hold their own events / classes.

Healthy tasty and good value cooked food, both in the day time for the general public, and with special menu’s ranging from budget to gourmet for private functions in the evenings. The kitchen is currently nearly ready for this, needing a little more funding to be complete. As part of the food program we will hold cooking workshops and have direct links to one or two local farms, both for fresh supplies and mutually beneficial business ties, and for educational visits to the farm themselves.

For the young lads we will hold open mike nights (ladies are of course welcome too!) and hopefully be able to offer basic recording facilities.

We will soon be hosting events providing a safe and comfortable space for young females which will be run by a young Somali lady. We will set up an internet radio station as soon as sufficient funds are available, linked with a web site. This will offer exiting potential for both promotion of our own events and local artists, as well as linking with other similar organizations world wide. We also wish to set up a community fm radio station as soon as is possible.