About us

Big Leaf Foundation is a small charity working with displaced young people aged 16-25 living in Surrey. 
Our aim is to provide a nurturing programme of activities, projects and events that focus on combating social isolation and improving wellbeing for the young people we support.

Our approach

Picture of young refugees dancing around a campfire at Trill Farm in Devon © Vicki Felgate
Image © Vicki Felgate
Big Leaf Foundation is a product of first-hand experience working with displaced young people. Our team saw an opportunity to change their situation and help them feel a sense of inclusion within their network of peers and the wider community.

Both academic research and direct experience has shown that to be received with respect and kindness, to meet compassion and understanding in the early days after arrival in the UK, and to build a trusted relationship with an adult can make all the difference to the ability of separated children to find their feet and to move forward with a sense of hope and positivity for a secure future here. It’s this knowledge that drives what we do and how we do it.
Trust & Transparency
Nothing is more important than trust, because so many of our young people have experienced a world in which they can trust nobody. It's essential that we build a relationship based on trust with our young people, and that they have confidence we will always act in their best interests. We achieve this by maintaining high standards of openness, honesty and transparency at all times.
Equality
​We approach everything we do with a deep sense of empathy and compassion. We strive to create a sense of community to which we all belong, on equal footing and to create a safe, secure and non-judgemental space for young people to engage and build new friendships, explore new activities, and uncover their talents and passions.
Growth
​Everything we do is focused on promoting the personal growth of our young people – growth that allows them to know they are more than the status they have been given and that each one of them is unique and valued.

Our team
Our team includes refugee care and migration studies experts, experienced youth workers, ex-social workers and finance, project management, fundraising and communications specialists. The team has combined experience of more than 20 years working with displaced young people.

We are committed to supporting displaced young people to participate in the development and leadership of Big Leaf and this is a core aim of our new young leaders programme - launching later in 2021.

Kayte
Co-founder & Programme Manager (West Surrey)

Kayte has worked with displaced people for many years. Her frustration with the “one size fits all” approach to helping displaced people settle in the UK led her to experiment with running extra-curricular activities, like sports and creative arts, alongside intensive academic programmes. This approach led to a marked improvement in outcomes for her students and encouraged her to make her methods more widely available through Big Leaf Foundation. Kayte is a lecturer in English, translation and ethnolinguistics and runs cross-cultural communication seminars for international corporations. She also holds a Masters with Distinction in Refugee Care, with a particular focus on therapeutic approach in education for displaced young people.






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Ben
Sports Programme Manager

Ben has been working with migrant groups in the UK since 2007. His first role, through the Time Together project, involved assisting an Oromo refugee family with acclimatising to their new living situation in Brighton. This inspired him to pursue a career in the field of refugee support and he gained a Master of Arts in Migration Studies from the University of Sussex in 2010. Ben has worked with a range of organisations supporting migrant groups, including Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, British Red Cross, Bail for Immigration Detainees and Enthum Foundation. More recently he specialised in facilitating activities for refugees, gaining training from the Lawn Tennis Association, Crisis Classroom and UK Coaching, establishing the first British Red Cross Refugee Football World Cup in 2016 and starting a refugee football project in Brighton in 2020. Ben has a background in trauma-informed support with a Certificate in Counselling and training in Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, EMDR and STAIR (Skills Training in Affect and Interpersonal Regulation).

Louise
​Caseworker

Louise has worked with young people for 15 years, first as a youth worker and Connexions Personal Advisor and then as a Welfare Officer. More recently Louise has worked with displaced families in Surrey and in 2017 became a foster carer for unaccompanied displaced young people, who are now very much part of the family along with her own, nearly grown up, children. 
Louise has a wealth of training and experience encompassing everything from safeguarding, suicide prevention, trauma informed care and caring for separated children to young migrants’ rights, the asylum process and age assessments. She is also a trained ESOL teacher. Louise is currently studying for a Masters in Refugee Care at the University of Essex, and working as a caseworker with the Red Cross Young Refugees Project in Portsmouth – widening her experience and knowledge and reflecting on the needs of displaced young people and the best ways of meeting those needs.

Alison
Casework volunteer

Alison has loved meeting people from other countries all her life and wanted to work with refugees for a long time.
In 2016 she decided to train as a foster carer for young unaccompanied asylum seekers. Her background in social work and bereavement counselling has been useful, but she finds that she learns as much from the young people as they do from her.
While fostering she came across Big Leaf and was so impressed with its approach that when there was an opportunity to join as a Volunteer Caseworker she took it. 








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Rachel
East Surrey Programme Manager

Rachel is a human rights and conflict prevention postgraduate, specialising in international project management and coordination. She has lived in several European countries and started her career focusing on the role of state and supranational bodies in upholding the rights of the child. Having worked and studied abroad, she returned to the UK and spent nearly four years working in political communications. In 2016, domestic and global political shifts reignited her commitment to human rights activism with a focus on the power of localised, community solidarity in the context of mass migration. She moved to Lesvos in early 2017, where she worked first at a refugee camp run by a Greek solidarity organisation and later a Swiss NGO-managed women’s centre.

Ghaith
Volunteer Project Leader

Ghaith is a Syrian refugee and arrived in the UK in 2016 to study a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA). Before this, he was a computer engineer specialising in project management, information security and policy administration.
Ghaith's asylum journey led him to recognise the importance of organisations like Big Leaf in supporting people going through similar experience. He is currently working towards becoming a certified counsellor with a focus on working with young adults.​



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Akira
Volunteer Project Leader

Akira graduated from Durham University in 2018 having read Human Geography. Growing up in a Japanese family in England has naturally led him to being interested in cultural differences and the way societies navigate these differences. His university studies have enabled him to explore these issues further and he's passionate about implementing this learning in the real world.
Having volunteered on the summer camp in 2018, Akira is keen to stay involved with the Foundation and is committed to helping create a world where every individual can thrive.



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Fabian
Volunteer Project Leader

Fabian is a recent graduate of the University of Portsmouth where he studied Environmental Geography. He loves taking on new challenges and has a passion for volunteering to make a positive impact. In his university days he was an ambassador for the Royal Geographical Society, a Green Living Assistant to improve student environmental practices as well taking on volunteer leadership roles in the Archery Club. 
Having experienced the change he could help bring about, through his involvement on a week-long trip with Big Leaf Foundation, Fabian was keen to continue providing support to displaced young people.



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Catherine
​Fundraising volunteer

Catherine has over 15 years experience working in international development, for both large and small NGOs. Her work has focused on gender and women's empowerment in South-East Asia and West Africa.
​She holds an MA in International Development and a PhD in Religious Studies - looking at the ways in which religious institutions engage in development work. As part of her MA studies she interned at UNHCR during the 2007 Executive Committee in Geneva. She has worked in refugee and asylum support in Australia and is passionate about expanding education opportunities for those seeking safety and security in the UK.

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Daniela
Volunteer Project Leader

Daniela is an expert in life science and her work is focused on making sure all patients have access to the most innovative and effective treatments for their condition. The UK is Daniela’s second home and she moved here with her family in 2011. Since Daniela was a teenager she has undertaken initiatives that promote awareness of child sponsorship as an effective means to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds to have a brighter future. Her belief that all young people, regardless of origins and background, should have the the same opportunities to realising their potential motivated her to volunteer for Big Leaf Foundation – recognising that the best approaches are those tailored to individuals and the communities in which they live.

Alon
Volunteer Project Leader

Alon is an experienced youth worker and educator, having spent the last few years running community engagement projects in community centres, schools and universities. In 2018 he led a 6-month research project investigating how non-formal educational spaces are benefiting displaced people across Europe. Prior to this, he co-founded and oversaw a near-peer mentoring programme for young people at Sussex University, tackling issues around mental health, emotional wellbeing, sex, gender and relationships. He has run residential summer programmes with NCS and Noam Masorti Youth, and most recently has been involved in putting together the Our Second Home summer residential for young refugees and asylum seekers aged 14-18 in and around London. Today he also works as a Wellbeing Practitioner at a secondary school in north London.

Toby
Fundraising volunteer

Toby works as a university bioscience lecturer/investigator, a role that has given him first-hand experience of how bringing those from different cultures to work together can provide exciting new solutions to challenging problems. He also leads several academic outreach and public engagement initiatives that connect with those who feel they have little science capital. In is his spare time, Toby contributes to charity fundraising activities as Chairman of his local Scout Group. Joining Big Leaf Foundation will provide an opportunity for Toby to combine his interests and expertise in teaching/learning, fundraising, and youth development programmes and help us deliver opportunities for displaced people living in Surrey.​

Our trustees

Vicki
​Co-Founder & Chair of Trustees

Vicki is a trained teacher in further and adult education and has over 18 years experience working in the charity sector - in conservation, education and communications. She has worked with adults with addiction, ran practical conservation projects engaging adults with mental health statements and was the Youth and Education Coordinator for Friends of the Earth for several years, before focusing on work with displaced people.
​Vicki was instrumental in the establishment of Elmbridge CAN, a local charity helping to resettle refugee families. She ran the first summer camp with Kayte in 2017 and it was this incredible experience that inspired her to set up Big Leaf.
​She has been chair of Big Leaf since April 2019.

Jocelyn
Treasurer

Jocelyn is an experienced IT professional, with a background in sales and consultancy. She currently works for an innovative SaaS company with a strong focus on social responsibility. Jocelyn is an immigrant to the UK, arriving with her family, aged 13.
​She's been involved in youth work for many years, and is passionate about supporting young people of all backgrounds to realise their potential.



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Sarah
Trustee

Sarah's diverse work with young people spans more than 20 years. Since qualifying in Youth and Community Leadership she has worked within small charities and large national organisations, leading on programming, facilitation, monitoring and evaluation, training, fundraising and governance among other things. Her work involves developing community cohesion in both isolated, rural and urban environments with a particular focus on disengaged and disenfranchised young people. These experiences fuel her ongoing commitment to inclusion and to support positive change for the long term.

Dave
Trustee

Dave is our newest trustee. He's an IT project manager and has 20 years experience of forming and leading teams made up of people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. 
Having come from a stable family background himself, Dave has a deep desire to help create opportunities for those who haven’t been so lucky and have often endured extreme hardship through displacement.




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