Keeping LRMN a safe, professional and friendly place
We are dedicated to being collaborative, inclusive, and rights based, while working with integrity and equality at the heart of what we do.
Learn more
Operations Team
Immigration Team
Housing and Welfare Benefits Team
Wellbeing Team
Community Team
Trustees
Claire Morris
Chair of Trustees
Claire is a Solicitor Advocate with expertise in governance and compliance. She is currently Assistant Legal Director at the Competition & Markets Authority where she advises on and manages litigation concerning competition, consumer protection and other regulatory matters. She has over 12 years’ experience in criminal and public law, including seven years as a senior lawyer at the Serious Fraud Office and roles assisting victims of sexual and gender-based violence. She has a PhD in international law, with her field work concerning Côte d’Ivoire and Libya, after specialising in refugee law in the USA.
Drucilla Susan
Vice Chair
Drucilla works as a teaching assistant, after arriving in the UK. She has volunteered on the ‘We are movers’ project with University College London, a project that showcased and highlighted the plight immigrants face in the UK. Drucilla has been involved with LRMN for a number of years, initially as a client and has been a trustee since 2020.
Mike Brooks
Mike has lived in Lewisham for over 25 years and is actively involved in various local community projects in Sydenham. He is a retired Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser and was a senior tax adviser with Blue Circle and Lafarge. Since retiring in 2009 Mike has acted as independent examiner for several charities in South East London and also as Treasurer for local organisations. He passionately believes in social justice and fairness in society.
Aferdita Pacrami
Aferdita is the head of communications for Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales where she leads a communications team to advocate for local charities helping people overcome complex social issues. Previous to this, she led marketing and communications for international development charity Penny Appeal. She also helped to set up, and later became the CEO, of a small digital marketing agency. She holds a Chartered Institute of Marketing diploma in professional marketing and has over 10 years’ experience in marketing, communications and digital.
Jagdev Panesar
Jagdev has lived in Lewisham for more than 20 years and by joining LRMN continues his local volunteering efforts. He brings expertise in IT-related projects and transformation programmes from working in a number of organisations across the commercial and education sectors for more than 30 years.
Linda Clemett
Treasurer
Linda is a qualified accountant with a MSc in Charity Finance. She has worked across a number of sectors: in the Government, in private practice and, for the majority of her career, as the Director of Finance for both large and small charities in the UK and overseas. At the same time Linda has been a Trustee/Treasurer for a number of charities throughout her career. She is currently retired, but continues to be involved with some smaller charities providing financial support and assistance on a voluntary basis.
Fazle Elahi
Fazle is a solicitor specialising in immigration, asylum, nationality, citizenship and human rights law. He currently works as a consultant solicitor for several solicitors’ firms. He volunteers for a couple of law clinics. He previously worked as an Immigration Project Manager for a renowned charity. He also teaches Immigration Law courses. Fazle holds a double LLB (Hons) and an LLM in Legal Practice. He was initially trained as a barrister and was called to the English Bar. However, he does not practice as a barrister. He is an OISC-accredited (Level 2) Immigration and Asylum & Protection Adviser too.
Irina Amelkina
Irina is a Senior Accessibility Specialist at DWP with a background in digital learning and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). She has worked and volunteered for multiple charities, leading and supporting the creation of accessible and inclusive digital experiences. She is an experienced strategist, assisting organisations in developing policies, strategies, and frameworks to embed inclusion and accessibility into their processes.
Irina is also a member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). She holds a master’s degree in Sociology and a Professional Diploma in User Experience.
Joan Nche
Dr. Joan Nche is a teacher of ESOL at Ruskin College, Oxford. Her research and writing are concerned with questions of home and relational poetics within the
scope of African and Caribbean writings. She coordinates and runs a Book Club for Black British Writers (BWBC). Joan has been a service user for Lewisham Refugee
and Migrant Network and has lived experience of the current immigration climate in the UK. She also has experience volunteering for Citizen UK and has undergone training as a community organizer. She is currently on the Non-Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) Partnership Steering Group, a cooperation set up by Migration Exchange, Citizens UK and Praxis.
Asia Gibbs
Asia is a HR and Regulatory Manager at Outer Temple Chambers. She is responsible for providing a highly professional HR service and support to managers and employees in line with organisational policies, procedures, and legal requirements. She is an experienced HR professional with over 16 years of experience working across private, education and not for profit sectors. Her experience covers a wide range of HR and compliance requirements including recruitment, selection and retention, induction, policy development, performance management, training and development and change management.
She has a master’s degree in HR Management and Employment Studies, and she is also an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). She also qualified as a lawyer by successfully completing a BA and MA in Law.