Big-hearted Britons say the UK has a place for Afghan refugees where 300 are offering temporary accommodation

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The big-hearted Britons give their spare rooms to Afghans fleeing the Taliban after being touched by the horrific scenes at Kabul airport.

A charity that brings homeless refugees and asylum seekers with temporary hosts said there has been an unprecedented increase in applications.

About 300 new hosts signed up in the last week compared to a handful in normal times.

“A lot of people say they can’t watch what’s happening on TV and just sit back and do nothing,” said Lauren Scott, CEO of Reviews at Home.

They are offering to host someone from Afghanistan but we had to tell them that we don’t know yet when these people will be here. We have guests waiting from other places and generally people are willing to host them instead.

“With the pandemic, many spare rooms are now offices or conditions have changed and we’ve lost hosts, so we need to recruit, especially in big cities.”

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Evacuated children wait for the next flight in Kabul (

picture:

GT)

Refugees work at home with immigrants and asylum seekers who are not yet eligible for formal support because lawyers have not yet processed their applications and do not have the right to hire or work.

The charity also intervenes when a person obtains refugee status and has only 28 days to leave the place of residence provided.

Since 2015, it has assisted 2,423 immigrants with a total of 187,740 employment nights.

Match of the Day host Gary Lineker invited a refugee named Rashid to his home in Surrey for three weeks last year through the charity.

Afghans wait on a US military plane to leave the country

picture:

GT)

He then said, “He was such a lovable guy that, frankly, it was a great experience.

He was great for my boys, they spent some time in his company. It gave them a great perspective on life.”

Charity co-founder Sarah Nathan, whose 26th guest is arriving at her home in London today, said they will be setting up a wave of applicants while they wait for Afghan migrants to arrive – but stressed they need more social workers and volunteer paramedics.

She said, “Thank God, the country is full of kindness and welcoming people. It is a small light in a dark time.”

“Everyone who has arrived so far has been allowed in by the government and they are being quarantined in hotels, and they are supposed to be housed by the local authorities.

“The people we help are those who fall in the gaps and go in informally, so we expect the numbers to go up in time.”

Evacuated children wait for the next flight in Kabul (

picture:

GT)

Sarah said the scenes in Afghanistan were heart-wrenching to see the current and former guests not only from the country but also those who had fled the wars in Syria and Eritrea.

“It’s very exciting,” she said. One of our first guests, now a trustee, said he starts shaking any time someone says ‘refugee’ and ‘flee.

“Many of them still have families there.

“If there is a positive side to this appalling situation, it will be that the Home Office understands that saying that you cannot enter by unofficial means does not support our humanitarian duties.

“You don’t do it lightly. If you have to flee, you have to flee.”

Four women slashed to death in terror from Kabul airport on the worst day of the evacuation.

Refugee Charities Chambers, Housing Justice, and NACCOM – the Non-Residence Network – are also coordinating temporary homes, while individuals have provided assistance through local authorities.

Neil Wu, 76, of Wakefield, West York, announced on Twitter that a spare room in his two-bedroom bungalow was available and was inundated with responses from inspiring others to act.

Sian Harris, the wife of Welsh comedian Rod Gilbert, has encouraged them to register their spare room at their local council.

“I feel a moral duty to do so,” said Neil, a retired shipbuilder and political researcher who lives alone.

“When Britain gave its word to help, they gave my word. Unlike this Conservative government, I intend to keep it. There are 650 constituencies in the UK and we will receive 5,000 people in the next 12 months – just eight per constituency.”

Claire Young, 42, a resident of Wakefield, registered her spare room with the council.

The entrepreneur, who lives with her nine-year-old daughter, said: “My mother said she would take a family and so did we.

“I was taking a mother and a child. As a parent and a woman, it is very sad to see. When we read about how the Taliban treat women, it is like stepping back in time.

In the news, a woman said she was going to her home in Norway and an Afghan woman asked her to take her baby. To feel that you would rather abandon your child than keep him in the country, tell me everything.

There is a lot of racism against refugees, which is unfair. I think it’s just a basic humanity that people want to help in this situation. I haven’t received any response from the council yet but I hope to hear back next week.”

TV host Gary Lineker took in a refugee last year (

picture:

GT)

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The government launched a resettlement plan for Afghan nationals to accommodate 25,000 people in the short and long term, with local councils responsible for their resettlement.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said 5,000 people would be eligible for resettlement during the first year of the programme, with women and girls prioritized.

In Scarborough, North York, the Rainbow Charity Center was flooded with clothes, diapers and toiletries after ordering items to help 92 Afghan refugees at a local hotel.

People who want to help but lack space in their home are urged to help in other ways, such as donating air miles to Miles For Migrants to fund flights to safety.

“There are a lot of good, very small charities that do specific things, like phone credit for immigrants, along with immigrant children and a friendship service for hosts,” said Sarah Nathan, Refugees at Home. Alex

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