Hi everyone: just a note to let you know that the evil cyber gremlins that have been plaguing me lately have now officially gone, so I should be receiving all mail OK. I thought I should say a little to introduce myself properly, now I'm up and running!
I'm very pleased to be here at OKFN. After studying English at Cambridge, I temped in quite a random fashion for some time (most random, definitely,was my time as administrator for a warehouse which dispatched reconditioned artificial limbs for the NHS. I will never forget the enormous piles of arms and legs waiting to go out!). In 2004, I started working an Immigration Detention Centre (basically a prison) near Cambridge, initially in the admin. office of a legal NGO (inside the centre compound), which provided advice and representation to those seeking asylum in the UK. After studying for a legal accreditation in my spare time, I then became a legal representative for the Refugee Legal Centre. My job was to take my client's story, often including experiences of torture, and my role necessitated a fair deal of ad-hoc counselling. I then spoke as advocate at their on-site hearing with the Home Office, before they were often bundled in the back of a van for deportation at Heathrow. On another note, this prison was where I met my would-be husband. I left the RLC when government funding cuts led to redundancies. I now live in Fulham, west London with our two children. I am a published poet and have read at several conferences of contemporary poetry. I have a strong interest in the work of the OKFN and hope to become a useful part of your team. Bear with me whilst I get up to speed! Meg x -- Meg Foulkes Foundation Administrator Open Knowledge Foundation http://okfn.org/ Skype: megfoulkes
_______________________________________________ okfn-discuss mailing list okfn-discuss@lists.okfn.org http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss