Meet the Team

Staff

Sophie Wickham

Executive Director

Sophie has worked in the asylum and refugee sector for 15 years in London and overseas. Her work has included legal advice, refugee resettlement, specialist women's services, policy, management and project development. Most recently she worked as London Area Manager for Refugee Action and volunteered with social agencies whilst living in West Africa. She previously worked for the British Red Cross, Asylum Support Appeals Project and held trusteeships of small London charities.

Kieran Tang-Wright

Rainbow Club Manager

Ruth Michaels

Passion Fruit Class Teacher - Rainbow Club Supplementary School

Ruth started working at AFRIL over 6 years ago and is the lead teacher at the Rainbow Club for the Early Years, Reception class.

Ruth has been working with children and young people for over 20 years. She is a community and youth worker and a family support worker for vulnerable people, and is also a registered childminder and nanny for SEN and care.

Ruth is very passionate and enthusiastic about the learning and development of children and young people in general, and strives to put a smile on every child's face and make a positive difference in their lives.

Vita Baliaj

Starfruit Class Teacher - Rainbow Club Supplementary School

Vita currently teaches Starfruit Class, a group of 31 children from year 2 to year 4, at the Rainbow Club Supplementary School. Alongside her role at AFRIL she is a Graduate Teacher Trainee at Dalmain Primary School. Vita has extensive experience as a senior teaching assistant in a number of primary schools in the UK and has worked with many different ages and abilities within the primary teaching sector. She has a Bachelors degree in Education Studies from London South Bank University and studied primary education in Albania before moving to the UK. Vita has been working at AFRIL as a classroom teacher since 2015.

Ndaiziyei Murimba

Mango Class Teacher - Rainbow Club Supplementary School

Ndaiziyei is a qualified teacher with a degree from Zimbabwe and a PGCE from Cumbria University. She has taught in primary schools in London and Kent as well as in High School in Zimbabwe. At Action for Refugees in Lewisham Ndaiziyei teaches the oldest class at our award winning supplementary school. She focuses on improving their attainment in English and Maths and has worked with over 100 children from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds during her time at AFRIL.

Sadegh Aleahmad

Art Leader - Rainbow Club Supplementary School

Daniel Espinosa

Sport Teacher - Rainbow Club Supplementary School

Ed O'Driscoll

Southwark Law Centre Immigration Advice Partnership Solicitor

Chloe White

Casework and Advocacy Manager

Bevlyn Annokye

Senior Caseworker

Awaatif Muktar

Caseworker

Helen Mason

Food Bank Programme Manager

Helen joined the AFRIL team in March 2017 and as of October 2019 has taken over as the Food Bank Manager. She is an experienced Volunteers Manager and practitioner of best practice in volunteering. Helen has set up and supported volunteer teams in university, social services, social enterprise, arts and health and community settings across the UK. She is a trained facilitator and project manager and used to supporting volunteers at all levels in organisations. Helen’s main responsibilities at AFRIL are the strategic involvement of volunteers in our work; ensuring AFRIL follows best practice in the selection, training and support of our volunteer teams. She also leads on our youth volunteering and beneficiary volunteering programmes and is our Centre Coordinator for the AQA Unit Award scheme of accreditation for volunteering. Helen also works part-time as the Volunteer Coordinator for Community Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (CARAS) in South West London.

Food Bank Administrator

Rose Cowling

Allotment Gardener

Jess Hughes

Monitoring and Operations Officer

Trustees

Gareth Redmond-King

Chair of Trustees

Gareth has been a trustee of AFRIL since December 2016 and is currently vice-chair of the board of trustees.

Currently head of climate and energy at conservation charity, WWF-UK, he used to work in central government. Most recently, that meant working on renewable energy in the Department for Energy and Climate Change. Before that he ran immigration and asylum services in the south-east of England for the UK Border Agency and has been responsible for various aspects of policing policy in the Home Office.

Enjoying cycling and wildlife photography in his spare time, Gareth lives with his husband and two cats in Crystal Palace.

Meet the Team

Staff

Sophie Wickham

Kieran Tang-Wright

Rainbow Club Manager

Ruth Michaels

Passion Fruit Class Teacher - Rainbow Club Supplementary School

Vita Baliaj

Starfruit Class Teacher - Rainbow Club Supplementary School

Ndaiziyei Murimba

Mango Class Teacher - Rainbow Club Supplementary School

Sadegh Aleahmad

Art Leader - Rainbow Club Supplementary School

Daniel Espinosa

Sport Teacher - Rainbow Club Supplementary School

Ed O'Driscoll

Southwark Law Centre Immigration Advice Partnership Solicitor

Chloe White

Casework and Advocacy Manager

Bevlyn Annokye

Senior Caseworker

Awaatif Muktar

Caseworker

Helen Mason

Food Bank Programme Manager

Louise Vangheluwe

Food Bank Administrator

Rose Cowling

Allotment Gardener

Jess Hughes

Monitoring and Operations Officer

Trustees

Gareth Redmond-King

Chair of Trustees

Lorna Barron

Trustee

Divaughn Burnett

Trustee

Kirsty Wildgoose

Trustee

Margaret Ruth Gravelle

Trustee

Neil Walker

Trustee

Karleen Richards

Trustee

Katie Commons

Trustee