Bilan B2B Arts and Crafts

On 7 August the Deputy Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Cllr. Ahmed Omer, came to open our new Somali Arts and Crafts shop. shop, Bilan, the only dedicated Somali shop in London. We sell a great range of beautiful hand made and decorated objects and clothing.

The products in our shop are the result of art projects for women and young children, skills training and community projects. Many of these employ traditional Somali methods and draw upon Somali art and culture.

The women are also encouraged to design a great deal of their work. So that the projects and shop together encourage independence but his shop helps fund our projects; all proceeds go towards our arts and education work.

What is B2B?

Back to Basics (B2B) is an organisation that provides arts and crafts programmes to Somali women and young people. B2B has been working in the East End on behalf of Somali refugees for
the last nine years. We aim to provide planned projects and workshops
of arts and crafts to address both educational and therapeutic needs.

In Somalia, artistic talent is manifest in simple everyday objects, from baskets to household goods, which are beautifully decorated. The potential to develop life skills through art is often overlooked because of this. We aim to explore Somali art to break new ground within Somali culture and to promote traditional crafts to the wider community.

We run beading workshops, basket making classes, as well as various sewing, patterning, cutting and printing projects.

Education

We run courses for the purposes of both education and therapy. Our educational classes are aimed at beginners looking to get started and those already skilled but who desire further tuition. We encourage our users to become financially independent, giving them the skills to work flexibly from home, further their education and improve their job prospects.

B2b is also active in mentoring school age children; second generation Somali's are now leaving schools for higher education. We have run a number of projects with different schools running after school classes and art groups in youth centres.

Therapy

The programmes are designed to enable users to be more involved with their communities and focus on reintegration into mainstream society and education. Coming not only simply enables people to leave their homes, and come to an environment in which they feel safe it gives them a space in which to tackle issues concerning social exclusion, culture shock or their experience of war.

Somali Trip

Our director, Rakhia Ismail, recently travelled to Somaliland to run a two week project with Somali girls who live in poor conditions. The workshops was a huge success and we hope to continue to work with Gollies College in Somaliland and other organizations to make this a permanent workshop.

Aims for the Coming Year

B2B is a stepping stone for many Somalis, helping them move in the right direction, either to help them run their own small businesses, go on to higher education, or simply find their place in society.
We are breaking new ground to improve and enhance skills for the Somali community, particularly for women.
Please support our work. Why not drop in and buy a present for someone special?