About us
This project was organised by the Dar al Yasmin Foundation in cooperation with cultural centre De Lindenberg, other partners and with financial contributions from various organisations.
Dar al Yasmin Foundation
Dar al Yasmin is an organisation by and for newcomers with the main goals of strengthening connections between people of different cultures and improving the social position of and participation by newcomers and people with a migration background.
Dar al Yasmin focuses on different themes, such as social participation, sustainability, entrepreneurship and culture. In addition, Dar al Yasmin is looking for stories of newcomers with the aim of increasing understanding of the position of newcomers as well as inspiring (other) newcomers.
In recent years, Dar al Yasmin has provided city tours in NIjmegen, which – besides the well-known historical and cultural sites – focused on special places to tell a story about newcomers. The common thread in these tours is: Nijmegen has always been a city of newcomers. They have helped make Nijmegen what it is today. It is an invitation to today’s newcomers to add their contribution to that.
Project leader Mohamed Abdelsalam
Mohamed Abdelsalam is an experienced project manager and cultural event organiser.
He trained as a graphic designer at the Alexandria Academy of Arts. He then served as an event organiser at the well-known Bibliotheca Alexandria and also at an international organisation. He was director of a cultural institution in Alexandria and he also worked in France.
Currently, Mohamed is working on several cultural projects with the Lindenberg and the Dar al Yasmin Foundation.
Photographer Michiel Heijmans
Michiel about his inspiration: I consider myself richer than ever. I get to pass on my knowledge in my street photography workshops. But above all, show others what I see. That city you have lived in for years, but then in a different way. I get to do that in my hometown Nijmegen, but now also in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Antwerp and Zurich. I give workshops to companies – yet another company outing – and lectures to photography clubs, but also in photography shops like CameraNu. My first book came out in 2023. My photography podcast with friend Niels de Kemp is called 30minutensluitertijd. And I enjoy shooting portraits and capturing events. More info at: www.michielheijmans.com
Cultural Center De Lindenberg
This project is carried out in cooperation with Cultural Centre De Lindenberg, in particular the Do-it-yourself programme.
With the Doe-het-zelf (Do-it-yourself) programme, De Lindenberg is looking for creative and cultural ideas, dreams or plans from active residents, individuals, groups, organisations and makers from Nijmegen or surroundings. The main goal is that everyone can feel at home at Lindenberg Culture House and get the chance to think along and give substance to a cultural idea.
De Lindenberg is particularly looking for residents who are currently less reached. Newcomers and people with a migration background certainly fall under this category, which is why De Lindenberg and Dar al Yasmin like to work together, for instance in the Your Nijmegen project.
Volunteers Dar al Yasmin
This project started as an internship project for International Social Work (HAN) students, but it is now run by volunteers from Dar al Yasmin. Almost all the volunteers are newcomers themselves, such as Abdelrahman from Egypt, Fariba from Iran, Ahmed from Palestine, Abedelsalam from Yemen and Nasib and Basima from Syria.
Grant providers & donors
The municipality of Nijmegen has provided a grant of €12,500 for this project. In particular, this grant will be used to organise workshops and, of course, the exhibition.