FIMK.eu was founded by Layla Hassan and Zanele Siko, two women who discovered a shared passion for African history, culture, rituals, and the ancestral stories that have been carried through generations by grandmothers and community elders.
Their connection grew from a mutual curiosity about healing traditions and the ways knowledge is passed down through families and communities. Both founders were struck by an important observation: Western psychological therapy often focuses primarily on the mind, while paying far less attention to the body and the ancestral stories that live within it. Many cultures understand that experiences, memories, and even trauma can be carried through generations and stored not only in the mind, but also in the body and in collective memory.
FIMK was born from the desire to reconnect with these deeper layers of knowledge.
Layla Hassan
Layla Hassan is currently training as a systemic constellations practitioner. Her work is strongly influenced by systemic thinking and the understanding that individuals are always part of larger systems — family, culture, history, and community.
Layla lived for several years in the Middle East and later built a professional career in the Netherlands as an archivist and information specialist. Her work with archives and knowledge systems strengthened her appreciation for the preservation of stories, histories, and cultural memory. At the same time, she carried a personal dream: to reconnect with African traditions of storytelling, ritual, philosophy, music, dance, and nature-based knowledge that have long been used as forms of healing and community connection.
Zanele Siko
Zanele Siko brings a powerful artistic and therapeutic dimension to FIMK. She trained in Theatre and Performance at the University of Cape Town and graduated with distinction in Community Theatre. Her academic and professional path continued with an Honours degree in Applied Theatre and Drama Therapy and a Master’s degree in Drama Therapy from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Her work sits at the intersection of performance, psychology, and community healing. Zanele has worked as a facilitator at the Zakheni Arts Therapy Foundation, supporting township school programmes through arts-based therapeutic practices. She also coordinated the Resident for Resident Theatre Festival at the University of Cape Town, creating platforms for emerging artists and community storytelling.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked with the DG Murray Trust as a Psychological First Aid facilitator, supporting vulnerable and underprivileged communities during a time of crisis.
Through theatre, storytelling, and embodied practices, Zanele explores how creativity can help individuals and communities process experiences, reconnect with their identity, and access deeper forms of healing.
Together
Together, Layla and Zanele combine cultural knowledge, systemic thinking, storytelling, theatre, and embodied practices to create spaces where people can reconnect with heritage, identity, and personal healing.
