Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
SUPPORTED
Afghan refugees settle in at hotel
‘While we are immensely grateful for all of the offers of donations, we do not need them at the moment...’
Families fleeing Afghanistan have arrived in the city as part of a resettlement scheme - amid a groundswell of support from across the district.
More than 100 Afghans who have escaped the troubled country in the wake of the Taliban takeover are being given emergency accommodation at Abbots Barton Hotel in New Dover Road.
The city council says it is assessing the needs of the first arrivals, and that some refugees have already been moved on to more permanent housing.
A spokesman said on Tuesday: “A number of families and couples from Afghanistan, including a significant number of children, arrived in Canterbury over the weekend.
“Our team and hotel staff from the Abbots Barton Hotel, who have been brilliant, are working hard to help them settle in as quickly as possible.
“It is a fluid situation as some families have moved on to settled accommodation elsewhere already and more will arrive later this week.”
The Home Office initiative is expected to see 106 people who have supported British troops over the years - and now face potentially fatal reprisals under the Taliban regime - housed at Abbots Barton for a short period of time before being moved to accommodation elsewhere in the UK.
Since news of the project broke, people across the district have rushed to offer donations of clothes, toys and bedding in a heart-warming show of charity.
But the city council says while the philanthropic display has come as “absolutely no surprise”, no help is yet needed.
A spokesman said: “For the time being, those that have arrived have everything they need.
“While we are immensely grateful for all of the offers of donations, we do not need them at the moment but we’ll be quick to appeal for help if that situation changes.
“By far the best way to help at this stage is to make financial donations to refugee charities such as Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) and Canterbury Welcomes Refugees.”
Afghanistan is a primarily Muslim country, and the city council has thanked members of Canterbury Mosque who have visited the newly arrived refugees to provide support.
A spokesman for the mosque said on Facebook: “We visited Afghan families in their temporary hotel residence. We listened to their stories.
“Many are women and children. [We] established hotline contacts, offering social, spiritual and financial support to their needs.”
In addition to temporarily housing refugees at Abbots Barton, the Canterbury district is expected to play a more longterm role in the Afghan citizens’ resettlement scheme.
The government last week committed the UK to taking in up to 20,000 refugees who are desperate to escape Afghanistan, and Canterbury City Council has backed the project.
Addressing district residents who have already stepped forward to offer support, an authority spokesman said: “At the moment there are no details of how many people may come to Canterbury or when.
“We do not know if it will be families or individuals, nor what their medical, welfare or schooling needs may be.
“It is therefore too early to say what community help we may require, if anything.”
Although the projects to help fleeing Afghans have largely been met with support, some have suggested they are unfair to local residents who are in need of housing.
But council leader Ben Fitter-harding has stressed rehousing those seeking refuge will not be at the expense of the more than 2,000 local people already on the authority’s housing waiting list.
“We are keen to do our bit to help these people who are fleeing persecution, and are working with our private sector partners to find suitable rental accommodation, using funding from the Home Office,” he said.
“We are working quietly behind the scenes on this but I can say that it will not impact on our existing housing waiting list and nobody will be disadvantaged as a result.”