Our Team
Grounded in lived experience and local knowledge, we work across borders to support people who are affected by war, crisis, and displacement.
Refugee Biriyani & Bananas is a community-led, female-led, and global majority-led organisation made up of diverse and experienced field teams, passionate trustees, and dedicated volunteers.
Meet Our Team
Ruhi Akhtar
Founder & CEO
Ruhi is the founder and CEO of Refugee Biriyani & Bananas (RBB), leading the organisation since 2015. As RBB’s first Chairperson, she brings extensive experience in nonprofit governance, overseeing strategy, financial management, and operations. With a background in healthcare, she spent a decade in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) as a Specialist Podiatrist before fully transitioning to humanitarian work.
Born and raised in the UK with Bangladeshi heritage, her family’s lived experience of migration shapes her commitment to community-led humanitarian aid. Ruhi has worked in war zones, border crises and displacement routes, focusing on community-led emergency response, protection, and sustainable solutions. She is dedicated to amplifying voices, providing resources, mentoring, and tools to support communities manage their own systems, advocating for community-led responses to humanitarian crises. When possible, she enjoys spending time with her family.
Amber Bauer
Chair of Trustees
Amber is the Chair of Trustees, bringing expertise in grassroots refugee support, nonprofit leadership, and financial governance.
Since 2016, Amber has been volunteering and partnering with RBB through forRefugees, supporting its mission to provide emergency aid and human rights advocacy at border zones and displacement camps across Europe.
As the founder of forRefugees, with a background in procurement and project management, she champions strategic, transparent, and dignity-first humanitarian aid.
Over the years, Amber has also opened her home to provide shelter for people seeking asylum in the UK, and now has a large family with people from countries including Eritrea and Afghanistan.
Aliya Abidi
Trustee, Operations and Mentorship Support
Aliya joined RBB as a volunteer in early 2023 on Chios Island, Greece, and has been committed to supporting displaced communities in Greece since 2015, first on the shores of Lesvos assisting people arriving by boat as the Syrian crisis escalated. Since November 2023, she has actively supported RBB’s Gaza project operations, including coordinating aid shipments from Cairo. She also contributes to peer-to-peer learning, coaching, and mentoring RBB team members from displaced communities as part of the Community Humanitarian Leaders Programme.
With a background in humanitarian aid, refugee protection, research, and migration studies, Aliya has worked with international NGOs and charities supporting communities in Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, and Bangladesh. From Switzerland and the UK, her family’s history of displacement—tracing back to India’s partition and seeking refuge in Uganda—deeply informs her commitment to advocacy and community-led humanitarian support.
Triana Riazor Marquina
Trustee and Field Operations Support
Triana, from Spain and currently based in Greece, brings project coordination expertise in humanitarian aid. She has been volunteering with RBB since January 2024, supporting both the Gaza project and operations in Greece. With a background in International Relations, she is currently a Project Coordinator and former board member of a Spanish non-governmental organisation in Athens that provides essential aid, social support, and organises morale-boosting activities for people residing in refugee camps.
Triana has also joined RBB in Cairo to help coordinate the shipment of aid trucks to Gaza. Her experience in logistics, project coordination, and grassroots response strengthens RBB’s commitment to humanitarian assistance.
Osama Braika
Gaza Project Remote Coordinator
Osama, originally from Palestine, first joined RBB as a volunteer on Chios Island in 2020 while seeking asylum in Greece, playing a key role in translation, outreach, and aid distributions. After receiving asylum and moving on, he continued supporting RBB remotely.
Now based in Belgium and working in administration, Osama became instrumental in RBB’s Gaza response following the escalation of war in October 2023. Leveraging his deep ties to Gaza, he helped establish a local team and coordinate emergency aid deliveries. As Gaza Remote Project Coordinator, he continues to oversee logistics, assessments, planning and reporting, ensuring community-led humanitarian support reaches those in need.
Elena Martinez Garcia
Trustee and Field Support
Elena, from Spain, is currently studying International Relations and living in Greece. Specialising in on-the-ground logistics support, she has been volunteering with RBB in Greece and Cairo since May 2024. She has played a key role in RBB’s outreach efforts to Rhodes and remote camps outside Athens while also volunteering full-time with a Spanish organisation in Athens that supports people who are refugees and seeking asylum. Her dedication to humanitarian work reflects her strong commitment to supporting displaced communities.
Mustafa Al-Laham
Gaza Project Field Coordinator
Mustafa lives in Gaza, Palestine, and joined RBB in November 2023 and now serves as the Gaza Project Field Coordinator, overseeing outreach, assessments, aid distributions, and logistics on the ground. Before the war escalated in October 2023, he worked in logistics and youth support in Gaza. His local knowledge, lived experience, and strong community connections are essential in resourceful procurement and ensuring aid reaches those most in need despite the ongoing war related challenges in the region.
Junaed Razaq
Trustee / Treasurer
Junaed was inspired to join RBB as treasurer after seeing the names of displaced people similar to his, a reminder of how easily circumstances can change lives. A Chartered Accountant with nearly a decade of experience in multinational Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) businesses, he ensures RBB’s financial transparency and accountability. A passionate football and cricket fan, he spends most of his free time keeping up with his energetic toddler.
Mantaqaa Akhtar
Trustee
Born and raised in the UK with Bangladeshi heritage, Mantaqaa’s family’s lived experience of migration inspires her dedication to community support. With a background in childcare, she has been involved with RBB since 2015, volunteering in local activities across the UK and helping to raise funds and awareness. Now a full-time mother of young children, including twins, she remains committed to humanitarian work while also working as a cat sitter.
Munira Yusuf
Trustees & Finances Support
Munira, originally from Somaliland and now based in the UK, has a background in finance, previously working as an Assistant Accountant in Hargeisa and now as a Finance Officer for a UK charity.
With lived experience of migration, she brings valuable insight to RBB and has supported its financial management as Assistant Treasurer since August 2022. A mother of older children, she balances work, volunteering and family life.
Our Volunteers & Support Team
Refugee Biriyani & Bananas is made possible by our diverse community of volunteers and supporters who come together to deliver aid and stand in solidarity with forcibly displaced communities. Their dedication, skills, and collective efforts drive our projects, ensuring meaningful and inclusive support.
Our Ambassadors
Habib Rahman
Ex Lord Mayor of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Newcastle Upon Tyne Councillor. Founder & Trustee of Rohingya Action North East and The Monu Dorji Foundation. Human Rights Campaigner and Key Member of Show Racism the Red Card.
Gulwali Passarlay
Internationally Renowned Author of ‘The Lightless Sky.’ A best seller on the life of Gulwali who travelled from Afghanistan to the UK to eventually receive refugee status. Human Rights Activist and Charity Trustee for Refugee and Afghan Rights.