How it All Started
In May 2017 Roos and Norbert met each other during the preparations for Africa Day, where Roos interviewed Norbert for an Africa Day podcast.
When minds meet
They kept talking and discussed music and playing instruments and how this can be of benefit to people who are living under very stressful circumstances.
They decided to try one small project, collecting guitars for people in Direct Provision.
To their own surprise, the project went well, People were donating guitars, teachers were offering free tuition and residents of the direct provision centre were happy to get free guitar and keyboard lessons. They even got a mention in the press and on The LabTV.
International Community Dynamics was set up as a community service in June 2017 with the help of Albert Hakizimana.
We are a Company Limited by Guarantee. Our company nr is 678109
Our aims are:
To help refugees and asylum seekers to find their place in society
To help refugees and asylum seekers to find their place in society
To provide help and training for intercultural understanding
Our Mission & What we Aim.
- To support and educate refugees and International Protection Applicants.
- To reduce levels of depression among International Protection Applicants
- To explore and develop IPAsu2019 and refugeesu2019 talents using the skills they brought with them from their countries of origin.
- To facilitate intercultural dialogue and integration within the direct provision centres and in the local communities.
- To create awareness around the issues facing IPAs and refugees
The Board of Management
Nadia Moussed
Acting Chairperson
Tolerance Mlambo
Chartered Certified Accountant
Albert Hakizimana
Co-founder
El Sadig Ishag
Advisor
Norbert Nkengurutse
Founder and Director
Roos Demol
Co-founder and CEO
Michelle Todd
Acting Secretary
A diverse team for a diverse world.n
International Community Dynamics wants to create change through positive action.
- Our organisation strives to make everyone feel equal, regardless of race, marital status, family status, gender, religion, sexual orientation, member of the Traveller Community, or ability.
- Our volunteers and board members are a perfect reflection of this statement, we aim to make diversity and inclusion a reality, wherever we go.
Donate an Instrumentn
We collect guitars and other instruments for people in Direct Provision. You can help by donating an instrument. If you are a music teacher, why not give some of your time for tuition? We also collect laptops (Windows 10, 4 GB, i3 and up).
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Help us to raise awarenessn
We are always looking for opportunities to raise awareness around the plight of people in direct provision, in the International Protection Process, and the refugees in Ireland. We advocate about the enormous potential these people have to offer to society.
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Become a partnern
Collaboration is the key to success. If you would like to work with us, get in touch. Together we are stronger.
Roos Demol, Co-founder and CEOn
Roos, a Flemish woman from Cork and mother of 4, has been a passionate advocate for refugees and International Protection Applicants for many years. She has a background in nursing in a prison hospital, where she learned and witnessed all about racism, poverty, addiction, and trauma. It is there that she formed her views on life and politics, and where she learned to converse in many different languages. Roos also has experience working for medical equipment companies such as Baxter Healthcare and Procter&Gamble.
u00a0She is the co-founder and current CEO of International Community Dynamics and Recruit Refugees Ireland. Having moved to Ireland in 1998, she has run a blog and podcast, Migrants in Ireland, and has been asked on many platforms, such as IHREC and IBEC to talk about the plights of refugees and International Protection Applicants in Ireland. Roosu2019 motto is to use positivity to implement change. Her own musical past and her childrenu2019s passion for sports have helped her to help others.
She has been seen on stage with the world music band, Citadel, with residents of the Kinsale Accommodation Centre, and has been seen supporting the KRAC 11 cricket team, also from the same accommodation centre, which she helped form. Roos speaks fluent Dutch, English and French and can keep a conversation going in Spanish and German. Awards include the Leadership in Diversity Award in 2018, the Cork Person of the Month of March 2021, and together with her team, the Friendly Business awards for Cork and Ireland She lives in West-Cork.
Nadia Moussed, Acting Chairperson
Nadia Moussed is a Youth and Community Worker with a BSc in Youth and Community Work from the School of Applied Social Sciences in UCC. For the last 5 years she has been working with young people from marginalised groups. she developed various outreach projects with the aim of capacity building in community integration which entails engaging with disadvantaged and marginalised groups while consulting and liaising with stakeholders to identify gaps in services.
Nadia is a polyglot fluent in English, French, German, Arabic and Italian. For her Baccalaureat in Marseille, she specialised in Economics and Sociology before taking Applied Economics at the University of Aix-en-Provence. Her interest lies in the research of good practices in intercultural dialogue and integration models.
Currently and for the last 4 years, she has worked as a global youth worker running the u2018UP Corku2019 LGBTI+ youth group in supporting the young people to explore global justice issues such as inequalities, protection of human rights, power dynamics, and the Sustainable Development Goals through the lens of environmental justice and creating space for advocacy through active citizenship.
Her engagement with those seeking protection is an ongoing endeavour as years of collaborations will witness at an individual, local, national, and global level
Norbert Nkengurutse. Founder and Director
Norbert is an electro-mechanic engineer from Burundi, East-Africa.
He worked as a producer for Christian radio, Ijwi ryu2019Amahoro. This radio stationu2019s mission was to promote peace and reconciliation after the inter-social and ethnic crisis in Burundi between 1993 and 2005.
Norbert joined the scoutsu2019 movement at the age of seven and grew up in the scouts, passing through every level of responsibility from the bottom to the top of the national organisation, when he became the Executive Coordinator of the Burundian scouts movement. As the national coordinator, Norbert developed and managed community projects financed by the European Union, Unicef, CCFD ( Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development), and Eccomi, as well as the World Organisation of the Scout Movement.
Mr. Nkengurutse moved to Ireland in 2016 and received refugee status in 2019. He recently reunited with his wife and two children who joined him from Burundi, where they had been waiting for 6 years. He is committed to supporting other refugees and International Protection Applicants in Ireland and around the world.
Michelle Todd, Acting Secretaryn
Michelle grew up in Essex, England, as part of a mixed race blended family and has lived in Cork for over 25 years. She is a lone parent with experience in Special Needs, advocacy, and has personal experience of systemic institutional bias in Ireland, along with more nuanced social varieties. She is passionate about social change and supporting the most vulnerable people in Irish society through arts, creative spaces, and bridging the gaps in existing supports by creating new networks that facilitate the needs expressed by those struggling. Michelle acts as secretary to the board, and is a part of our volunteer team working directly with International Protection Applicants to become employment ready
Michelle was a parent Liasion at Wallaroo, she is a founding member of Cork Democratic School, and she currently teaches at Cork Life Center. She was involved with Coder Dojo for 4 years.
Tolerance Mlambo, Chartered Certified Accountant, ACCA | CPA Ireland. Pro Bono Consultant, Accountant, and Treasurer for RRI.n
Mr. Mlambo is a Certified Public Accountant in Ireland. He has a passion for helping charities and individuals to manage and grow their financial well-being. With a very strong accounting, tax, and business management background, he provides us with his expert advice, professionalism, responsiveness, and peace of mind.
Being a non-national who came to Ireland as a qualified accountant to work in practice, Mr. Mlambo fully understands the challenges faced by those coming from abroad with their dream to start a new life.
El Sadig Ishag, Advisor. n
Elsadig, originally from Sudan, has extensive experience in humanitarian organizations and NGOs, he was assisting with the repatriation of Sudanese people to their homeland, to resettle.
He formed a coalition of Sudanese civil society organizations to combat human trafficking and illegal immigration through Sudanese territory and headed this coalition for a period of 3 years.
When he worked as an Honorary Consul for Malta in Sudan Elsadig represented the Maltese government diplomatically and economically in Sudan, he had to support Maltese citizens residing in the Republic of Sudan and assist them in overcoming difficulties, including discussing sensitive issues and advocating for them.
El Sadig has strong facilitation and training skills, he delivered training (TOT) for staff of different organisations and taught them how to look after refugees.
Elsadig is fluent in English and Arabic.
Albert Hakizimana,Co-foundern
Albert moved to Dublin, Ireland from Bujumbura in Burundi in December 2007. He studied Economics and Finance and attended Kimmage Development Studies Centre in Dublin, where he studied International Development. He worked as a volunteer for SVP and has recently rejoined his family in Canada. Passionate about helping communities, especially the vulnerable, Albert offers translating and interpreting services in different languages to refugees in Dublin. He is a member of Dun Laoghaire Refugees Project for Integration. Albert is staying involved from his new home in Quebec.
Albert is married and the father of two young boys.
.His ultimate goal is to promote positive community development and economic growth in his surroundings and his home country.
When he worked as an Honorary Consul for Malta in Sudan Elsadig represented the Maltese government diplomatically and economically in Sudan, he had to support Maltese citizens residing in the Republic of Sudan and assist them in overcoming difficulties, including discussing sensitive issues and advocating for them.
El Sadig has strong facilitation and training skills, he delivered training (TOT) for staff of different organisations and taught them how to look after refugees.
Elsadig is fluent in English and Arabic.