Action is the antidote to despair

Supporting Refugees, Asylum Seekers
and People with No Recourse to Public Funds

VISIT US

Who We Are

RAMA (formerly Refugee Action Colchester) began as a grassroots response to the suffering and exploitation of refugees and asylum seekers in Calais during the summer of 2015. A small group of volunteers, moved by the hardship people endured, came together with a shared commitment to help in any way we could.

Our early work opened our eyes to the challenges displaced people continue to face when they arrive in towns like Colchester. Many struggle to navigate unfamiliar systems, overcome language barriers and access services that others often take for granted. As these needs became more visible, our remit naturally evolved from crisis support abroad to long-term, community-based support in north Essex.

Today, RAMA is a voluntary organisation providing non-judgemental, practical support to refugees, asylum seekers and individuals facing severe vulnerability. We work to reduce destitution and homelessness, filling gaps in statutory provision and advocating for those who are often overlooked. Our approach is grounded in dignity, compassion and a commitment to equity.

We have grown into a busy, community-rooted organisation supported by dedicated volunteers and strong relationships with local government, peer organisations and national and international refugee and migrant support networks. Through these partnerships, we help create lasting and meaningful change in the lives of those we serve.

As an IAA registered organisation, we are able to provide regulated immigration advice for Home Office applications, including cases involving domestic abuse, human rights and individuals with no recourse to public funds. Formalising as a social enterprise called RAMA CIC has strengthened our capacity to provide coordinated, essential and life-changing support to those who need it most.

About our Immigration Advice Service
RAMA is a not-for-profit organisation with limited funding. We support people who cannot afford paid immigration advice. As demand for our service is very high, we currently have a waiting list. To make sure help reaches those who need it most urgently, we prioritise clients who are facing destitution or serious financial hardship. Thank you for your understanding.

MEET THE TEAM

Director, Operational Lead & Caseworker

Maria Wilby

Maria has always been interested in issues around justice, or the lack of it. As a migrant herself she still remembers moving here as a two year old from India.

Maria is grateful for the experience of working with people who are vulnerable through circumstances outside their control – whether it be war, famine, or hostile environment policy. She knows she learns from them daily about what is most crucial to a meaningful existence.

Meeting these individuals creates a wider understanding of the importance of a strong community and how it can help carry people through the hardest of times.

Maria believes passionately in acting with warmth in a system where bureaucracy has reduced humanity and empathy towards others.

Partnerships & Programmes Manager

Elizabeth Long

As Partnerships Coordinator, Elizabeth is responsible for sustaining and developing links in the local community with social services, charities, health and education providers and other community groups. In this she is keen to ensure that the organisation upholds the founding principle of compassion where there is need, and non-judgemental assistance to those with nowhere else to turn.

Formerly a languages teacher and translator, she has volunteered with refugee organisations in the UK and with grassroots organisations in France and Greece, teaching refugee students of all ages. She firmly believes that we can bridge cultural and linguistic divides through embracing the universal qualities we share, while also respecting and celebrating diversity. Effective communication is key to ensuring old and new residents find mutual benefit as our community evolves.

Director

Phil Dunnett

After joining as a volunteer in April 2019 Phil took on the role of Fund Raising Co-ordinator. Phil’s role expanded to web site admin and event planning. Phil was invited to become a Director in 2023 with a particular focus on finance.

During his working life in the Electricity Supply Industry Phil took on several volunteer roles, e.g. School Governor and leading a Wildlife Trust Watch group for children. Phil is now retired and is a volunteer instructor for the Taoist Tai Chi Society.

The publicity surrounding the plight of refugees, and an inspirational presentation by Maria Wilby, convinced Phil that RAMA was a very worthwhile cause to support.

Director

Shelley Braddock-Overbury

Shelley was a full-time Caseworker from May 2020 till May 2023, having been volunteering in a part-time capacity with RAMA since April 2019.

Formerly a Business Owner in the Events Industry for 20 years, alongside being a volunteer in France and the UK in an independent role coordinating aid projects for Asylum Seekers and Refugees for the last 5, Shelley gained a good base knowledge around the difficulties vulnerable migrants face, both within the UK and Europe.

Shelley’s shared experiences in a professional capacity and experience as a RAMA Caseworker make her a very useful addition to the Director team.

Director

Laith Al Jobouri

Director

Renee Luthra

Renee Luthra is Professor of Sociology and the founding director of the Essex Centre for Migration Studies. An immigrant herself, she conducts research and teaches on the causes and consequences of international migration, as well as ethnic inequalities in school, work, health, and access to justice.

Renee has been an admirer of RAMA since 2016 through her participation in the Essex Migrant Agency Forum, and she will be collaborating with them, alongside other migrant organisations, to examine the experiences of immigrant families in the family justice system.

In 2024 Renee was invited to serve as Director with a focus on the wider migration context in the UK.

Director

Bryn Griffiths

Bryn is our most recent addition to the RAMA Directors’ Team. He joined us after decades of experience working as a senior local government officer having started his career at the Greater London Council in 1985. He spent the last two decades of his career, before he retired in 2023, as an assistant director at the nearby Suffolk County Council.

During his career was part of the Local Government Chronicle’s Management Team of the Year in 1999 when he worked for Newham Council; he wrote the Mayor of London’s first Annual Report in 2001; sat on the board of a local authority company NORSE responsible for Suffolk County Council’s passenger transport services; established public-private partnership bodies such as the one with SUEZ which built the Great Blakenham Energy from Waste Plant and won the Local Government Association Public Private Partnership in 2012; sat on the governing bodies of not for profit organisations such as the Dedham Vale and Coast Heaths Ares of Outstanding Beauty.

Bryn adds senior public sector strategic management experience, experience of programme and project management, knowledge of partnership working and a proven commitment to good governance to the RAMA Director’s Team. He is also a qualified Institute of Leadership Management (ILM) 5 Coach and Mentor.

Ukraine Lead

Maud-May Cuthbert

Maud-May always had a strong interest in social and political issues, and is passionate about social justice. Her desire to help others has informed her career choices and in the past 24 years she has worked with vulnerable people in education, library & information services, and offender management.

Maud-May has a professional background in commercial and educational administration and in library and information management. She has always enjoyed advocating for others, helping to solve problems and ensuring their rights are met.

During the pandemic Maud-May was redeployed from her role as Library Manager at HMP Chelmsford to the Essex Welfare Service, to handle calls from Essex residents in need of a wide range of services including shopping, prescription collection, and mental health service referrals. She found value in this role: offering practical help but equally alleviating loneliness and anxiety. This in turn led Maud-May to volunteer at RAMA in November 2021 to join a good friend with whom she had delivered caravans to the Calais ‘jungle’ in 2015/16. Since April 2022 Maud-May has been a full-time Caseworker at RAMA, with specific responsibility for Ukrainian refugees, and also for safeguarding.

Senior Caseworker

Colm McDonald

Colm started as a part-time Caseworker at RAMA (formerly Refugee Action – Colchester) in October 2022 after having volunteered at various times in the past.

Colm had been aware of the often desperate plight of refugees, asylum seekers and globally displaced peoples for a long time having visited the Calais ‘Jungle’ and witnessing first-hand the treatment of these people in other systems around the world. However, becoming a Caseworker at RAMA really did open his eyes to the injustice, inhumanity and discrimination directed by government towards our fellow humans here in the UK and the need for organisations like RAMA to fill the holes in the system while helping people navigate their way towards better futures.

Colm feels honoured to work for RAMA: a wonderful organisation with compassionate and dedicated staff who do so much good for so many people.

Senior Caseworker

Hasina Uddin

Hasina joined RAMA in April 2022 as a part – time Caseworker after volunteering with us.
In her previous role she was working at a women’s refuge supporting women fleeing from domestic violence.

Hasina is bilingual and is able to translate to some of our clients. She is the daughter of a first generation migrant. She grew up in a family who faced first hand experience of arriving to a new country. Her parents were not well equipped and faced isolation and struggle to integrate due to the lack of support available at the time.

Hasina is with RAMA because she is passionate and dedicated to support the most vulnerable. She is proud to work for RAMA. A place she says is international and where people from all around the world visit.

Mental Health & Psychosocial Support Lead

Leena Alfrhat

With over a decade of experience in the humanitarian sector, Leena specializes in providing mental health support for asylum seekers, refugees, and newcomers adapting to new communities. Holding a BA in Psychological Counselling from Damascus University and an MA in Refugee Care from the University of Essex, she has worked with international NGOs, including the International Medical Corps and Médecins du Monde.

Leena’s career has focused on implementing mental health programs to address the psychological wellbeing of individuals affected by conflict and displacement. She advocates for the rights and dignity of displaced individuals, aiming to foster a sense of belonging and integration in their new home. Leena first came to RAMA as a placement student, and was delighted to be subsequently taken on in a full-time role as a Caseworker and Interpreter.

Leena is now in a new role supporting clients’ mental health.

Caseworker

Jenny Wilson

Having taught English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in the UK since 2003, Jenny has worked closely with increasing numbers of refugees and asylum seekers in the education sector and has become aware of the vital role RAMA plays in these people’s lives. Jenny recently completed an MA in Refugee Care that included a student placement at RAMA, with a particular interest in the psychosocial benefits of education and ESOL for people from refugee backgrounds. She is delighted to work now as a part-time caseworker at RAMA, focussing on clients’ educational needs.  

During her studies, the importance of working with people from refugee backgrounds using a multidisciplinary approach was always emphasised. Jenny says: RAMA is exemplary in this, with different members of the team working together to support clients’ various needs, providing legal, health & social care, and psychosocial, educational and enrichment activities. It is a privilege and joy to work for such a dynamic and well-connected team which truly lives by the motto “Action is the antidote to despair”!

Complex Caseworker

Nathan Niesley

The plight of refugees and asylum seekers has had a profound impact on Nathan from birth, which came at a time when his parents were deeply involved with South East Asian communities displaced by the Vietnam War. Nathan’s connections with displaced groups continued throughout his life to include enclaves in Philadelphia, Vancouver, and Hong Kong. RAMA seems like a natural stepping point from these communities and experiences, and Nathan finds it deeply satisfying to be involved in offering more support here than he was able to in those previous volunteer roles.

With an undergraduate degree in philosophy and a masters in linguistics, Nathan’s professional career has included managerial roles, teaching at various levels up to university, and as a debate coach. Throughout it all, he has held onto the motto of his alma mater: Faith, Reason, and—especially the last one, as it relates to RAMA—Justice. May we see more of it in our lifetime, and most of all for our most vulnerable.

Immigration & Asylum Caseworker

Ayse Uzun Demir

Ayse is fully qualified in international refugee law and a specialist in asylum and human rights, with significant experience in the fields of displacement, gender-based violence and trafficking. Over the past ten years she has worked in multidisciplinary responses with asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in Turkey, Switzerland and the UK. Her professional experiences range from roles in human rights advocacy to informing policy development and contributing to policy changes with national and international non-governmental organisations.

Ayse is motivated by the desire to effect change for individuals as well as at the level of public policy decision-making. While pursuing studies on the International Human Rights Law program at the University of Essex, she volunteered at RAMA and witnessed how they efficiently challenged injustice while supporting and empowering people. Currently, at RAMA, she is working as an immigration casework coordinator to help clients with their immigration applications, defend their fundamental human rights and challenge systemic failures in the UK immigration system.

Food Projects Coordinator

Joyce McIntyre

Joyce McIntyre joined RAMA as a Food Projects Coordinator after volunteering for several months. Before coming to the UK, Joyce worked for a charity in Kenya alongside vulnerable women and children. She helped them through micro-finance, child sponsorship and empowerment through education on subjects such as health and finance. As well as providing practical assistance she was on hand to give general counsel and advice, as well as emotional and spiritual support.
 
“As a migrant myself I know how familiar food can bring much comfort when you’re missing home and that’s why I’m so passionate about managing the foodbank. We do our best to supply culturally specific foods for our clients as well as a friendly atmosphere where people in very difficult circumstances can feel welcomed and accepted. My work in Kenya was driven by a passion for vulnerable and struggling people. It is this same passion, together with my first hand experience of relocating to the UK that makes me sure that RAMA is where I want to serve”.

Interpreter

Abdulbaset Fatahi (Karo)

IAA Advisor

Simona Čerkauskienė

Admin Lead

Paula Maclellan

Paula spent many years as a PA in the corporate legal world in London and then moved to a local firm of immigration solicitors.  She started out as a volunteer on the main reception desk at RAMA and subsequently filled the position of Admin Lead when it became available working with a team which she already knew was made up of compassionate and caring people.  
 
She began volunteering at a very young age, along with her parents, for the Harwich Red Cross Society and is genuinely interested in helping others.  She joined RAMA to make use of her knowledge gained in the legal immigration department she worked in and very quickly felt part of the team.   She has always had a strong sense of injustice and has strived to support anyone around her when possible.  
 
She enjoys singing and is in a local choir that raises money for charity.  She also enjoys travelling and learning about different languages and cultures.  She is very proud to be working at RAMA in a team of people which is completely passionate about what it does.

Scroll to Top