NASS - our story
In the early months of 2024, Tayseer El-Hassan, following the suggestions of her friend Nigel Larcombe-Williams, brought NASS into being.
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Tayseer is from Sudan. She was born in Khartoum. For many years, while working as a doctor in Sudan, the United Kingdom and the Middle East, she had become oppressed by what was happening to her country. In early 2024, she decided that working as an individual was not enough to combat “the terrifying darkness” into which her country had been plunged.
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What was needed was an international charity, with very specific aims. (You can find them spelt out on our ‘Mission’ page).
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She and Nigel assembled a team of experts, beginning with Steven Leigh, shortly joined by Seifeldin Abdelkareem and Ahmed Yousif. Once under way, they applied to register the charity in the UK. Since June 2025, they have been a fully registered UK charity.
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In April 2025, Chris Oliver became a trustee.
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NASS is transparent, open to the public, and openly regulated. As Tayseer says, “We want people to know that if they give us support, it is for the victims of this terrible war; it is only for them and our land, Sudan.”
Tayseer
Tayseer is a Consultant Paediatrician. For the last two decades she has been strongly engaged in charity and voluntary projects …Read Morethat supported young girls’ education, orphans, establishing self-reliance through small businesses and the provision of Paediatric consultations and medical equipment to tertiary hospitals in Sudan.
A graduate of the University of Khartoum, a member and fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health, her career as a Paediatrician has spanned Sudan, the UK and the UAE.
Tayseer has special interest in looking after children with complex medical needs and is a keen educationist actively involved in post graduate training of pediatricians. She played a pivotal role in the establishment of several Paediatric services in the UAE, where she has been working for over 15 years.
Nigel
After taking a degree in Anthropology and Sociology Nigel trained as a Social Worker, working in mental health and child protection. …Read More
He moved to the private sector as a consultant for numerous organisations and government departments both in the UK as well as abroad.
He was the National Advisor on Mental Health for the Open University and recently took an MA in War and Psychiatry before being elected an Associate Member of Kings College, London.
Nigel has always been a supporter of charitable work and has been a Trustee of SKRUM for a number of years. Due to the nature of his work Nigel travels widely, spending time in Africa and the Middle East.
Steven
I am a retired solicitor, father of three sons and grandfather to their four sons and daughters. Brought up largely in Cornwall and educated in the state sector, …Read MoreI was the first in my family to go to university, attending Pembroke College Oxford where I obtained a degree in law.
I worked as a solicitor in Devon for 45 years and retired in March 2024.
I live in Bovey Tracey and have recently served as a town councillor there as well as being involved in the past with our local school and rugby club. Professionally, I have served on the committee of the Plymouth Law Society.
My background, training and career have given me the tools to analyse problems accurately and find solutions, and to work in a team.
I have always had an interest in international affairs and literature. My travels and my reading have taught me that the West does not have a monopoly of wisdom, and perhaps more importantly that you are as likely to find the essential human qualities of kindness, generosity and compassion up a mountain in Nepal as you are in the boardrooms of the City, in our universities or in our government departments.
Seifeldin
I am a retired banker, from North Sudan, born and brought up in the Gaziera Scheme in the middle of Sudan. Father of three, one son and two daughters. …Read MoreI graduated from the University of Khartoum, accountancy division. I have worked in Khartoum, Saudi Arabia, London, Qatar and UAE.
I have spent more than 42 years in the financial industry spanning over commercial banks, Investment Banks, a Central Bank, and a Development Bank. The last one being 14 years as CFO of Ajman Bank. I was a member of various committees, for instance Asset Liability Committee, Credit and Investment Committee, HR Committee and Management Committee, amongst others.
I obtained the Fellowship of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (UK), Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (UK) and an MBA in Finance from City University London.
Ahmed
Dr Ahmed Yousif is a Sudanese- British Psychiatrist who has worked in many parts of Sudan and UK as a volunteer in aid work …Read Moreand as a physician with over 30 years of experience.
He volunteered as part of a team of UK & Ireland psychiatrists who have been helping with capacity building through training mental health professionals in Sudan for the part 15 years. He also volunteers in delivering consultations to patients through telemedicine and other low-tech platforms.
He helped establish the National addiction center (Hayat) which became the national hub in Sudan for delivering state-of-the- art treatment services and training health care professionals (doctors, psychologists, nurses, and social workers).
He is a member of several Sudanese NGOs and civil society groups that are working together to end the current war in the country. He is also on the editorial boards of two medical journals and has published over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals raising awareness about mental health issues.
He currently works as Head of Psychiatry at the National Rehabilitation Center, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Chris
I’m a retired Chartered Surveyor by profession, a father of two sons, aged 33 and 34, and three grandchildren. …Read MoreI am at present a Trustee of the Black Prince Trust, based in Lambeth in London, a Trustee of The Eleanor Oliver Foundation, based in Brixham in Devon, and Chair of SKRUM—an HIV Charity based in Eswatini, South Africa.
For many years I was a Trustee and Joint Founder of the Oliver Foundation, which was based in Port Elizabeth in South Africa.
Throughout my business career I was a director of a number of large real estate joint ventures, including NFU Mutual, Lehman Bros and the BP Pension Fund.
I have been very fortunate to visit many countries in Southern and Eastern Africa and my eldest son, daughter-in-law and two of my grandchildren live in Nairobi in Kenya.
