Craft and Flea Market is coming to DMU

May 22, 2023 by Leave a Comment

By Amina Ali

The Craft and Flea Market is coming to Leicester on Saturday, June 17.  

The market brings together independent local makers, designers, producers and collectors who sell quality and on-trend products at various events all over the country.  

Each event is different, with this one selling candles, jewellery, home decorations, prints and paintings as well as food. 

Leicester’s market will be held at The Venue @ DMU on Western Boulevard from 11am – 5pm. 

Entry is £2.50, with under 12s going for free. 

If you’d like to buy tickets, you can get them HERE.

Filed Under: Latest, First Year

Leicester Employability Day for young people to develop their skills

May 22, 2023 by Leave a Comment

By Amina Ali

The University of Leicester is hosting a “Leicester Employability Day” on Wednesday, May 31.  

It is primarily, but not exclusively, targeted at young Black people of African, Caribbean or Dual Heritage for them to develop their talents to comfortably transition into working life. 

The event is targeted at young people aged 10-22 to interact with professionals from the Black community and exhibitors from the public and private sector. 

If you are under 16, you must attend with a responsible adult.  

You can sign up to the free event on Eventbrite, which begins at 10.30am at the Sports Hall in the Charles Wilson Building on University Road.  

Filed Under: Latest, First Year

UN representative discusses DMU’s sustainability goals with students and staff

May 22, 2023 by 1 Comment

By Amina Ali

A United Nations official has highlighted DMU’s impact on sustainability following her visit to the university. 

Inspiring: Jayashri Wyatt discusses her thoughts with a DMU audience (redpix.co.uk)

The visit highlighted the university’s’ initiatives using the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to push students and educators to use education as a force of good. 

“What universities are doing and what DMU is doing specifically has impact on the ground for the 25,000+ young people who are studying on that campus and it’s just so edifying to see,” said Jayashri Wyatt, the Chief of Education Outreach in the Outreach Division of the UN Department of Global Communications.

DMU has several projects for the improvement of the curriculum in line the SDG’s such as Decolonising DMU which aims to challenge racism and build an anti-racist university as well as DMU Sustainability which is committed to minimising the environmental impact of its activities at local, regional, national and global levels.  

During the visit at the end of April, DMU’s Media Discourse Centre and its students engaged in conversation with both Ms Wyatt and Carlos Islam, (UN Public Information Officer,) about their opinions, experience and education of the world of media. 

Referring to journalism and film, Ms Wyatt said: ““We live in a time of enormous misinformation and disinformation.”

“Information integrity in telling stories that are respectful and factually correct about the subjects are key.”

She added: “I’d love to come back to DMU—I had an incredible visit and the university hosted us in such a hospitable way.”

“We very much look forward to continuing our partnership with De Montfort University and universities from all corners of the world.” 

If you would like to learn more about SDGs, visit: https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals. 

Filed Under: Latest, DMU News, First Year, Today's Top Story

Leicester-based charity group plans to cycle for Syria

May 18, 2023 by Leave a Comment

By Amina Ali

A group is cycling from Leicester to Amsterdam in just three days to support a charity and raise money to rebuild homes in Syria. 

Soulymane Abdulmolla and his two friends, who run Waves of Positivity, decided to embark on the venture following a camping trip in 2021 where the temperature dropped to below freezing overnight. 

Pedal power: Soulymane (right) and his two friends Aadil (middle) and Sulaiman (left) prepare for their charity cycle

Abdulmolla said: “We kind of got a taste of what it felt like to be homeless, obviously we had shelter, but we were so cold that the condensation inside the tent was creating a layer of ice.

“We wanna make sure that we’re trying to prevent other people from going through that.” 

The cycling aspect was inspired by a 24-hour trip that he and his cousins took to Paris. 

He added: “This year, before Ramadan, we were planning our events and they (my friends) brought it back up again. I suggested to allow other people to join us, and make an event out of it.” 

The group are setting off on August 26 and hoping to arrive in Amsterdam, the “capital city for bikes in Europe”, by August 29.  

As it’s a tough challenge which requires intense training, Abdulmolla said: “You have to be self-motivated. As a group it’s easier, you can lean on one another and rely on one another to make it easier.” 

Even if you can’t take part in the cycle, many fundraising events are being planned such as a charity car wash, a barbecue, mosque collections and bake sales. 

“Whatever other ideas people have throughout the next couple of months, whatever we can implement, we’ll implement,” he said. 

The initiative is to provide functional and safe housing for the families that have been displaced after the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria. 

To learn more or take part, visit the Waves of Positivity website and you can click HERE to donate.

Filed Under: Latest, Charity, First Year

Leicester-based charity hosts events to support people’s mental health

May 18, 2023 by 1 Comment

By Amina Ali

Charity Jamila’s Legacy is hosting events for people in Leicestershire wanting to improve their mental health. 

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Rehana Sidat, set up the charity in dedication to a woman named Jamila who died as a result of neglect after struggling with her mental health for many years.  

“I vowed that I would start Jamila’s Legacy in her name so that we address that mental health sigma and so that, hopefully, things like this don’t happen again and people do have somewhere to go to,” she said. 

“Demand was increasing after COVID.”  

After several years of running the charity, Rehana set it up last May to be a Community Interest Company, which is a company set up for the benefit of a community, due to the increase in demand for its services that she had seen. 

“Social media grew really big; the sessions grew from once a week to twice a week to three times a week!” she explained.

Expanding: Jamila’s Legacy founder Rehana Sidat is responding to increasing demand

As a result of this boom in demand, Jamila’s Legacy now runs The Womens Mental Health Wellbeing Project twice a week at The Highfields Library in Melbourne Road and the African Caribbean Centre in Maidstone Road.  

The charity also runs Mental Wellbeing Mondays twice a month for men and women at the John Lewis Café space in Bath House Lane. 

Other projects include monthly Time Out Sundays for those wanting to prioritise their mental health, monthly online Men’s Mental Health sessions, The Young People’s Project and training courses. 

“Jamila’s Legacy is about prevention and early intervention so that we don’t get to crisis point, we don’t get to those points like what happened to Jamilla?,” said Rehana. 

“What I would say to anybody reading this who’s struggling, please, please do seek help.

“Don’t keep ignoring it, because the problem with that is that your mental health will deteriorate and before you know it, you’re in a situation where you’re having to have greater support than what you would’ve needed.” 

For support and to find out more, visit Jamila’s Legacy website or follow them on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  

Filed Under: Latest, Charity, First Year, Mental Health
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