‘We’ve taken in asylum seekers fleeing ISIS and the Taliban’
A Maidstone couple who open up their home as a sanctuary for refugees have spoken of the horrors their guests have endured. Shirley and Jon Patch, of Boxley Road, spent three years providing a room and food for an Iraqi asylum seeker who was interrogated by ISIS.
Now they are helping a 15-yearold boy whose father was killed by the Taliban and brother became a suicide bomber. In 2016 the husband and wife, both 63, discovered the charity Refugees at Home, who help pair asylum seekers with people willing to act as hosts while their asylum status is being considered by the Home Office.
The couple decided they wanted to help those who had nowhere else to go.
Jon, a support worker, said: “We felt that there was a real need, and there was something we could offer - help, a room, a sanctuary. A couple of months later they had a referral from the Red Cross, so we decided to meet the refugee that we were going to give help to.”
Fadhil (not his real name) fled from his home country after realising his life was in danger. Interrogated by ISIS due to his father’s ties with Saddam Hussein’s
regime, he decided to flee. Shirley, a now-retired dental hygienist, said: “He was terrified that one day he would just disappear and nobody would know where he was.”
Smuggling himself through the borders of numerous countries, Fadhil eventually found himself in the ‘Calais Jungle,’ a refugee and migrant encampment close to the French port. In 2014 he boarded a lorry bound for Dover, where he immediately went to a police station to claim asylum.
Fadhil said: “I didn’t have a choice - at that time Iraq was under IS attack and I didn’t have any idea about my family or anywhere to stay, and they’re watching you.”
He was offered accommodation by the Home Office, only to have it rescinded when his claim was rejected.
Recounting his discovery that Jon and Shirley were going to offer him a place to stay, Fadhil said: “It was a dream come true for me. Before that I was homeless, and even when I had accommodation before we had to share the same room - it wasn’t always clean and we often didn’t have enough money to eat.”
After three years with the Patch family, Fadhil managed to make a fresh claim for asylum, and has moved into different Home Office accommodation. But six years on he is still waiting for his status to be granted. Until then he has to rely on support from charities and the government, but Fadhil’s ambition is to be able to live independently and help others by teaching English as a second language.
Jon said: “A lot of people tend to think they come here, they get the full range of benefits, a free house, but that just isn’t the case - it’s very hit or miss. “There doesn’t seem to be a pattern as to who gets asylum - some do after a couple of months, for others it’s 10 years.” For Shirley and Jon, their role is much more than giving a refugee a roof over their heads they are also on hand to help their guests through the process of seeking asylum, which includes court appearances, meeting solicitors and back-andforth paperwork.
Shirley said: “They can get really down - they can’t work and they’d like to support themselves but they’re not allowed.” The couple’s most recent guest fled from his native Afghanistan aged just 15, after his father was killed by the Taliban.
His younger brother was indoctrinated by the terrorist group and became a suicide bomber, but the boy was determined not to suffer the same fate.
After being captured and tortured by the Taliban, he escaped and made his way to the UK. He came to Maidstone last year. “He doesn’t even know if his mum and sister are still alive,” said Shirley.