How my journey began

Shamim Eimaan was a child refugee and came to the UK when Idi Amin expelled the Asians from Uganda in 1972.  She was born in Uganda, grew up in Birmingham and moved to York in 1986.  She is also part of the adoption community and has an adopted daughter and a birth son.  

She is passionate about supporting under-represented communities and shares her experiences about her culture, about her unfortunate situation of being a refugee and her adoption journey. These lived experiences provide her with a level of specialism that can inform and improve systems, research, policies, practices and programmes.  

Her professional background is leadership, management and project management. After working in the NHS for over 30 years as a Facilities Services Manager and leading on health inequalities, she has set up ‘Eimaan Culture and Community Services CIC’ which is focused on promoting activities to improve equality, diversity, inclusion, health and well being acting as a trusted conduit between communities and the public sector, private and third sector organisations.

Her desire is to empower under-represented communities, improve wider understanding of other backgrounds and cultures and to bring communities together.

Her recent projects include Uganda50 York, Chat Adoption York, Refugee Week Traditional Ladies night, ‘Cultural Awareness and Lived Experiences’ Training for organisations and York’s first Health Mela multicultural festival.

She was nominated for a Community Pride Award in June 2023 for her work in the community and in 2024, York Health Mela 2023, won the ‘Best Community Project’ in the Community Pride Awards!

What People Are Saying

  • Steve Lewis - York Press 21 January 2023

    “CHILDREN at a York primary school were so enthralled listening to the experiences of Ugandan Asians who fled here 50 years ago after being thrown out of their own country that you ‘could have heard a pin drop’, their headteacher says.

    The visit to Naburn CE Primary School on Tuesday (January 17) was organised by Shamim Eimaan - who herself came to the UK aged just six more than years ago, but was so traumatised by her early years in Uganda that she blocked the experience out.”

  • Steve Lewis - York Press 21 may 2023

    In a community room at Tesco in Askham Bar, a group of mums and dads are meeting over coffee and sandwiches to chat about the trials and tribulations of bringing up children.

    They swap stories about issues at school and home, challenges with teenagers - and the difficulties of accessing support for youngsters with behavioural issues.

    But these are not just any parents. The children they're talking about, with such exasperated affection, are all adopted.

    The meeting marks the first anniversary of Chat Adoption York - a parents' support group set up by York adoptive mum Shamim Eimaan.

  • Roshan H

    “I attended the Ladies night event for Refugee week and had a wonderful time! Being a refugee from Uganda myself, I was very interested to hear some of the stories from various people from other countries and the event was really well organised and joyous. Thank you Shamim for all you hard work, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would definitely any future events like this.”

  • Khohinoor

    “It was a lovely event Shamim. You did a brilliant job organising such an inclusive event and inviting people together for fun.”

  • Rebecca M

    “Hi Shamim, it was such a fantastic evening, we loved every minute, thank you for the invitation and for organising such a great event. I’m happy to help at future events and yes I hope to see you soon xx”

Awards I’ve Won

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