A community center at Bobbers Mill, which provides services to more than 300 people, has shown how they have overcome the struggles to help the community during the pandemic.
The Karimia Institute on Berridge Road was founded in 1989.
Ahmed Belim, 52, who runs the community center fundraising, originally grew up in Lenton but has since moved to Wollaton with his family.
The Karimia Institute offers support in the areas of education, youth work, funeral services, health and even has its own radio station: Radio Dawn.
The community center provides services to more than 300 people, mainly from: Radford, Hyson Green and Bobbersmill.
Mr Belim said some of these areas are known as “disadvantaged areas with low income families and low social mobility”.
Throughout the pandemic, Mr Belim said the Karimia Institute supported local communities during the lockdown and the staff tried to encourage others to get vaccinated.
He told Nottinghamshire Live how all services went online for anyone using the community center during the pandemic, adding that “many families were scared”.
He explained, “The pandemic was strange and people really wanted to come back because praying together is better than praying alone. There is a sense of community in the Karimia center and people use it as their own source of information. “
He admitted “it was hard [to help everyone in need] and the numbers fell slightly because we also had to stick to the rules. “
“The pandemic has opened my eyes to how dependent the community is – be it help with funerals or help with weddings, this [the community centre] is the first point of contact for many. “
Radford has one of the worst vaccine intake rates in Nottinghamshire. Mr Belim said the Karimia Institute believes it has a “responsibility to protect the community” and promised to educate others about the importance of vaccination.
He said by using Radio Dawn, people using the community center were able to “dial in” to live vaccine question-and-answer sessions with NHS experts, which “gave people the opportunity to talk to professionals after the To question the effectiveness of the vaccine ”. Vaccination”.
The community center also had pop-up vaccine clinics where “all staff attended to encourage people to come along and get vaccinated” to show others it was safe.
Mr. Belim also spoke about how the community center advocates becoming more diverse, “connecting and bringing people from different communities together”, especially as he has noticed more travelers in the area. The Karimia Institute is not just about “faith” as the community center “offers a range of services and promotes British values,” he said.
The community center plans to continue workshops such as the Trust Building Forum, which educates people about Islamophobia with the intention of “mythizing” misunderstandings about Islam.
Shafique Khatana, 53, director of education at the community center also spoke about the importance of helping many children who use the community center regularly as they only charge £ 1 to provide extra support to those in need. Mr. Khatana went on to say that although the community center “struggles sometimes with fundraising,” it will continue to do its best as people in various fields rely heavily on the support of the Karimia Institute.