Remembering Luli, co-chair of our oldest chapter TELCO and long-time Citizens UK leader

Remembering Luli, co-chair of our oldest chapter TELCO and long-time Citizens UK leader

By Angus Ritchie - TELCO Co-Chair

Luljeta Nuzi, the founder and Chief Officer of Shpresa Programme, was one of the most remarkable people I have ever met. It was an inspiration and a privilege to get to know her better over the years we chaired TELCO together.

Throughout her life - including the time in which she lived with increasingly aggressive cancer - she had a relentless focus on caring for, and building up, the people around her. In her first period in hospital, she was raising money to ensure Shpresa could buy their HQ in Plaistow as a permanent home - and right to the end, conversations with her displayed that same practical compassion.

With her colleagues Flutra Bara and Evis Bodlli, Luli harnessed the methods of community organising to build Shpresa (which means “hope" in Albanian) as a powerful, user-led organisation for migrants. It offers practical support to people in immediate need, but also focuses on developing them as leaders and taking action as part of the wider TELCO and Citizens UK alliance to tackle the injustices they face.

As well as helping Albanians, Shpresa has been at the forefront of work to support refugees from other countries, most recently Ukraine. Once again, this support included both practical help and leadership training.

Our thoughts and our prayers are with all who mourn her passing - among them her mother, husband, children, and her colleagues and community at Shpresa and in the wider TELCO family. It was an incredible honour to serve alongside Luli as Co-Chairs of TELCO.

And, as we remember Luli with deep affection, admiration and sorrow, we commit ourselves to honour her memory by working with Shpresa and the wider TELCO family to build on the foundations she laid.