Welcome

ILAYS is a non-profit organisation, set up in 2004 by the East African community in West London.

Our Story

Back in 2004, we saw that many of our brothers and sisters who arrived from Somalia and elsewhere were struggling to cope in the UK.

Making the transition can be tough, and we recognised that migrants, refugees and asylum seekers were in danger of feeling excluded, isolated or ignored. We felt something could be done to help them. So we set up Ilays.

Our mission is to help BAME communities and new arrivals in West London to reach their full potential. We want people to feel comfortable and – above all – happy in their lives here.

We think it’s vital that they can overcome any barriers to social inclusion, and can think of themselves as totally equal to people who were born and raised in the UK.

Our values

At ILAYS, we take inspiration from the world around us. That’s why all our values are drawn from our community and the people we represent.

We believe in delivering meaningful, relevant and consistent help to people in our community, regardless of their religion, race, gender, sexuality or politics.
We believe our services should always be focused on the end user, who should be consulted and represented at every stage.
We believe in partnering with other organisations to maximise our resources and further our aims.
We believe that people have a right to be informed about all the services that are available to them.

Our aims

To help refugees settle into the UK
To support the education of new immigrants
To help new arrivals develop citizenship skills
To support mental health in BAME people
To elevate women in society
To increase awareness of health and wellbeing issues
To help young people become self-reliant, confident and happy
To promote shared values and cohesive communities
To spread the positive values of Islam
To challenge prejudice, stereotypes and misconceptions
To help build a stronger Britain together