A new life for Afghan helpers LISA’S PINK CAR CRASH ORDEAL
A MILITARY camp in South Wales will be used to house scores of people fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan, who risked their lives to support the UK.
East Camp, a Ministry of Defence (MoD) housing estate in St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, will house 50 people by the end of the month, with more joining them in midApril.
The site, which can host a maximum of 180, will be used by families who are eligible under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).
ARAP supports people and their families who worked for, or with, the UK government and British armed forces in Afghanistan – such as interpreters.
An MoD spokesperson said: “We owe a debt of gratitude to those brave Afghans who risked their lives working alongside our forces in support of the UK mission.
“To ensure ARAP-eligible families can begin a settled life in the UK as quickly as possible, the UK Government is offering transitional and settled accommodation from the Defence Estate, including at East Camp St Athan.
“Eligible Afghans will be housed there temporarily for an approximate period of six weeks before moving to more settled accommodation.”
Afghan citizens who are eligible for relocation to the UK under ARAP may come with a partner, dependent children and additional family members who are deemed eligible by the MoD and suitable for relocation by the Home Office.
Those who arrive in the UK under the ARAP scheme have indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
The MoD said it is working with the Welsh Government and the Vale of Glamorgan Council to ensure that the project is managed “with everybody in mind”, especially those who live locally.
IN LIFE there are some days that are forever memorable, hopefully because of a happy event or uplifting experience, but sometimes it’s because something happens on that day that makes your life pivot direction or affects you emotionally and mentally.
For Welsh businesswoman Lisa Marie Brown the date was August 8, 2023, the day she was involved in a car crash in Cardiff.
A traumatic experience in itself, but the event has brought more shock to Lisa because of some people’s negative reaction to it.
Lisa says: “I got rammed side on and it hit me out of my lane and I crashed into a tree.
“I was unconscious for a few seconds, I had severe whiplash, bad shoulder, bad back, and bad knee where I’d been squashed into the car.
“It was really traumatic, the whole experience.
“I had to go to A&E and it was probably one of the worst moments in my life because it was scary and horrific.
“When it happened the airbags went off and when I came round I saw the car was on fire, I wasn’t even sure what had happened.”
Lisa is the founder of Pinkspiration, a company that offers training, workshops and coaching within the construction industry, as well as the director of P1NK Motorsports and Supercars.
As part of Lisa’s distinctive branding she wears pink and, until that day in August, drove a bright pink Ferrari that was always easy to spot on the roads of the capital.
So when that car was seen crumpled up against a tree on one the main roads into the city, it was soon being spread on social media and online.
When Lisa woke up the next day she was shocked to discover that the photo of her wrecked pink Ferrari had gone viral.
Lisa, from Vale of Glamorgan, explains: “It had become world news that night and the next day I went online and it had gone viral across the world.
“Initially some people were upset for me because obviously it’s quite a well-known, popular car and it’s a write-off.”
But as the news gathered momentum Lisa says she became the target for online trolls and fake news.
Lisa recalls: “There was so much fake news, like I was drunk driving which is not true because the police did a mandatory breath test at the crash site and it came up zero.
“Some of my haters and trolls were saying I was filming at the time of the incident which wasn’t true either.
“They wrote about me on social media, they sent me messages and emails, and I even had an eight-page hate letter.”
Lisa feels she was very lucky not to have suffered any broken bones in the crash but did have severe whiplash and, as well as suffering the backlash from some people, the timing for her next P1NK business development was in jeopardy too.
But it was the hate that Lisa says she was getting that was an unexpected extra layer of stress that resulted from the crash.
She says: “Some people said things like ‘I wish she was dead,’ it was awful. It was a shock for me, it did take a huge toll on me.
“I think their behaviour is borne out of jealousy and the fact that a young woman has done quite well in life, they wanted to see me fall, that’s what I feel. We’re in a society that looks for a ‘rise and fall’ story.
“But I’m a real person who is constantly working hard to give back to her community for over 20 years via projects and events to bring people together and especially inspiring youngsters and women to get ahead. At the end of the day I’d love to know what these people have been doing for their local community.”
As the months progressed Lisa says she began to sink down to the lowest point in her life, both emotionally and mentally. She says: “I really struggled at Christmas and I nearly lost my business. I was at a really low point, I was just constantly fighting with people, so I got into a very low state.
“I think I slept for about two weeks almost straight through because I was so exhausted. It was really tough, a real challenge just to get out of bed.”
Despite the danger of a negative reaction of speaking out about online bullying and toxic behaviour, Lisa feels it is important to shine a light on what happened to her after the crash and also to share how she managed to overcome the abuse.
Lisa says the first step was to refocus, so she paused her social media and online activity for a while and put herself at the centre of her life.
She says: “I used that time as an opportunity to take time out for myself, to rest and try and recuperate and, with the help of some of my family, to just enjoy simple things and not worry about the outside world for a while.
“I managed to pull myself out of it by thinking of the small things that count and appreciating the little things in life. For anyone going through something similar I’d say take yourself away from it for a while and focus on something else. I found walking, swimming, spending time with family, meeting friends all helped.
“But I’m a fighter, so my message to the haters would be to say don’t you realise there’s a real human at the end of these messages that you’re targeting? And if you don’t have anything positive to say, then why even say it?”