The Sunday Times - UK (2021-11-28)

6 2GN The Sunday Times November 28, 2021

NEWS

As the British military plane took off from

Kabul carrying Marwa Koofi and her fam-

ily to safety, she asked her mother

whether they could swap places. Marwa,

20, was sitting on the floor of the jet,

while her mother, a former member of

Afghanistan’s parliament, had a seat by

the window.

“Mum, can I just look out?” she

said. “It might be my last time seeing

Afghanistan.”

The family had been forced to flee for

their lives from their home in the Afghan

capital. Marwa’s aunt and elder sister had

also been members of parliament, and

her mother was an outspoken critic of the

Taliban.

As she watched Kabul fading away

below her, she glanced back at her family.

“I could see everyone crying,” she said. “I

could see my mum crying, I could see my

brothers were very upset, and everyone

was just sad and looking down. That was

the last time.”

Last year, the Refugee Councils of Brit-

ain helped more than 20,000 refugees

like Marwa in England, Scotland and

Wales. This year it has been chosen as

one of three Christmas charities sup-

ported by The Times and The Sunday

Times.

Founded in the wake of the Second

World War and led for many years by

Lord Dubs of Battersea, who escaped the

Nazis on the Kindertransport at the age of

six, the Refugee Council works with local

authorities to provide intensive support

for at least the first 12 months after a refu-

gee arrives. Many are traumatised by

leaving family and friends, knowing they

cannot return to the lives they had built.

The charity helps them to find housing,

financial support, education, English

classes, healthcare and specialist mental

health support.

Although it receives some statutory

funding, it also relies on public dona-

tions. “We’re the oldest provider, we’ve

been doing it for 70 years now — we wel-

comed people who’d survived the Holo-

caust,” said Renae Mann, 47, the council’s

service manager.

Volunteers for the charity were on

hand with essentials such as warm

Letter from the editors

Hannah Al-Othman

clothes when Marwa and her family

arrived, unprepared for their new life.

Their house had been wrecked when

her neighbourhood was bombed in the

days before the Taliban took control.

Marwa said that even as militias

advanced, she had believed they would

be safe. She had no idea how suddenly

Kabul would fall. Reality hit when the Tal-

Our lives, our dreams, our country

collapsed. Now we can hope again

The Refugee Council provides vital aid to traumatised families fleeing from turmoil. With your help, they can do more

generation, we thought we were the luck-

iest generation that Afghan ever had.”

When the Arap resettlement scheme

for those who worked for the British gov-

ernment and its armed forces began in

April, Hossain wanted to stay in Kabul.

But by the summer, the family could see

they had no option but to leave.

“In August, we saw everything col-

lapse,” he said. “Not only Kabul but our

dreams, our aspirations, our country.”

Hossain has long battled anxiety and

depression: losing his country and living

in quarantine accommodation and in a

hotel has not helped. Through the Refu-

gee Council, he has been referred for

mental health support specifically for

asylum seekers and refugees who have

suffered trauma.

The Refugee Council is also helping

him find a job: he has had an interview for

an interpreter’s role and applied to be a

community wellbeing officer with Leeds

city council.

He is attending English lessons, even

though he already speaks the language to

a much higher level than others in the

class: “If I learn [even] one word, it will be

a good thing.

“I divide the past three months into

two phases,” said Hossain. “The first

phase is very dark; the second phase is

very bright.”

Life is also looking brighter for Emal,

38, and his family, who are living in a

hotel in Yorkshire. A fireman with an

international organisation since 2004,

his life was in danger under the Taliban

after spending almost two decades work-

ing with foreign troops.

Emal, who asked The Sunday Times to

disguise his identity for fear of reprisals

against those still in Afghanistan, worked

in fire and rescue at Kabul airport. As des-

perate refugees poured in to escape the

Taliban, it was his job to work with for-

eign soldiers to control the crowds, and

allow those who had been guaranteed

safe passage to make their way out.

Emal and his family were granted asy-

lum in the UK but almost did not make it.

He was inside the airport but for 30 hours

his family was stuck on a coach outside.

They were inside by the time a bomb

went off, killing at least 183 people. The

family were barricaded into a room with

British soldiers before getting on the air-

craft that would take them to safety.

Emal hopes to work as a firefighter in

Britain. His children have started school

and his elder daughter, who was studying

law in Kabul, hopes to go back to univer-

sity. He praised the Refugee Council for

all the help he has received: “They basi-

cally showed us everything and they gave

us advice about living here, and in every

way they could, they helped us.”

Now he is excited for what the future

holds: “This is the start of a new life.”

Last Christmas, generous readers

raised a record-breaking £3.28 million:

more than £1.9 million for the food waste

charity FareShare; £680,000 for the

charity Sported, a network of commu-

nity youth clubs; and £360,000 for Tusk,

a British charity that protects endan-

gered species in Africa.

@HannahAlOthman

Editorial, page 32

iban arrived on August 15. “I could see

people were leaving their cars and run-

ning,” said Marwa. She had been getting a

coronavirus test when her mother called,

telling her to go home and pack a bag:

they had to leave.

The family were offered asylum in the

UK, and headed for the airport. En route,

they were almost captured by the Taliban

when Marwa’s mother pulled down her

mask to drink from a bottle of water and

was recognised. A gunman bundled their

driver out of the car and attempted to kid-

nap the family, but after a frightening

drive he decided instead to dump them

on the street and take the car.

Reaching the airport took hours, wad-

ing through a canal of sewage. In the dead

of night, they finally reached the point

where British soldiers were pulling peo-

ple to safety.

They were relieved to escape but dev-

astated to have to leave their shattered

city behind. For now, Marwa’s home is a

hotel room in Yorkshire.

“Personally, all I’ve got is just a bag of

clothes and all the memories,” she said.

She has been accepted to a top London

university to study international rela-

tions and dreams of one day going back to

a different Afghanistan to be a politician

like her mother. The Refugee Council

helped her to navigate the system and put

in her university application.

“They’re amazing people,” Marwa

said. She also described Yorkshire people

as “the kindest people I’ve ever met”.

Elsewhere in Yorkshire, Hossain

Saeedi is settling into his new home after

starting off in a hotel with his wife Mas-

ooma Hussaini, and their sons, one-year-

old Arian, and Danial, 10. A baby girl is

due in February. Hossain, 37, worked as a

senior political officer at the British

embassy in Kabul. His wife, 39, was a

newspaper editor.

“We had a normal life,” he said. “My

TO DONATE

Refugee Councils of Britain

How you can help support

refugees fleeing bloodshed

£

could pay for one

person to take part

in a cricket or

football programme

£

could pay for

an hour with an

interpreter to

help a refugee

communicate

£

could pay for hot

meals for ten

people at risk

of destitution

£

could pay for a

group outing to help

refugees learn more

about life in Britain

£

could pay for a

specialist interview

workshop to help

25 refugees into

employment

£1,

could pay for a

one-hour therapy

session for 50

child refugees

ANDREW MCCAREN FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES

Marwa Koofi, right, found kindness in

Yorkshire. For Hossain Saeedi and his

family, above, the outlook is bright

Call 0151 284 2336, go to

thetimes.co.uk/appeal

or use the QR code

surging tides. The WWT has restored

thousands of hectares of wetland and

wants to restore 100,000 more.

Wetlands slow down and soak up

floodwaters. They absorb and lock away

huge amounts of carbon dioxide.

The third charity is the Outward

Bound Trust, which enjoyed hands-on

support from its chairman and patron,

the Duke of Edinburgh, for more than 60

years. It takes young people into the

great outdoors to build character, teach

resilience and instil them with

confidence. The average child missed 115

days of school last year and many young

people typically spend less time

outdoors than prison inmates.

With Outward Bound, they scramble

up mountains, canoe along rivers, jump

in lakes and sleep under the stars. The

charity uses donations to provide

heavily subsidised trips for children

from the most disadvantaged areas,

including those at risk of expulsion from

school or gang-related crime, ensuring

that children from deprived inner-city

areas still have access to nature.

All donations to Outward Bound will

be doubled up to £300,000 by Barratt

Developments and the Barratt

Foundation, while donations to the

WWT will be doubled up to £115,000,

including a £25,000 pledge from Moto in

the Community, the charitable arm of

the motorway service station firm, and

£90,000 from a donor who has asked to

remain anonymous.

Our journalists from The Times and

The Sunday Times will report on the

inspiring work of these charities.

Your generosity helped to

raise a record-breaking

£3.22 million for our appeal

last Christmas. Please show

your support by donating

online at thetimes.co.uk/

christmasappeal or by

phone on 0151 284 2336.

Thank you very much.

The Times and The Sunday Times are

joining forces again for this year’s

Christmas appeal, asking readers to

support three charities.

The first is the Refugee Councils of

Britain, comprising the English, Scottish

and Welsh refugee councils. They

provide assistance to 20,000 adults,

families and unaccompanied children

each year who have fled bloodshed and

persecution.

Britain has a long history of offering a

warm welcome to those seeking

sanctuary and in the past year has

offered a home to those threatened by

Taliban rule in Afghanistan and Chinese

crackdowns in Hong Kong.

The Refugee Council helps new

arrivals to find food, clothing and

homes. It help them to integrate, find

employment and put their skills to use in

sectors from healthcare to retail and

business, which benefit hugely from

their contribution.

The second charity is the Wildfowl &

Wetlands Trust (WWT), founded 75

years ago by Peter Scott, son of the

Antarctic explorer Captain Scott, who

wanted to protect Britain’s disappearing

marshlands and the wildlife that depend

on them. Wetlands store more carbon

than all the world’s forests combined,

yet they are the forgotten weapon

against climate change and 90 per cent

have been lost in this country. With so

many of Britain’s natural floodplains

covered by human

development, excess water

no longer soaks into the

ground but runs into

homes and businesses

from swollen rivers and

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