Undated handout photo of 2 Marwa Koofi, 21, who fled Kabul, Afghanistan when the city fell to the Taliban in August last year and has lived in two hotels over the last 12 months, has described feeling like her family's "lives are paused" as they await news of permanent accommodation from the Home Office. Issue date: Thursday August 4, 2022.
AN AFGHAN refugee who has lived in hostel accommodation for over a year says she feels her life has been “paused” while she waits for permanent housing.
Marwa Koofi, 21, who fled Kabul in August last year, is one of the 10,500 Afghan refugees still living in hostels across Britain more than 12 months on from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
She has lived in two hostels during that time, recently moving from one in Selby, North Yorkshire, where she stayed for 11 months, to accommodation in Crawley, West Sussex. The move left her separated from her family.
Ms Koofi described the year she spent languishing in hostels as a “waste.”
“I have wasted a year because my hotel [in Selby] was in a location where I couldn’t do anything,” said Ms Koofi, who is set to begin study International Relations at King’s College London next month.
“When I think back to the year, I just see it as a blank — it’s nothing. I haven’t done anything.
“You don’t even have the energy to get up from your bed because you know your day is nothing.
“I feel like our lives are paused. I just want our lives to be played.”
Refugees Minister Lord Harrington has written to councils urging them to help house the Afghans held in hotels nationwide, according to the BBC.
But campaigners have accused the government of failing to keep its promise of a warm welcome to Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban as thousands remain “trapped” in hotels and others are “abandoned and separated” from their families in Afghanistan.
“For Afghans here in the UK, a pressing concern is the safety of their family members who are currently trapped in Afghanistan and not able to apply to reunite with them here,” said Refugee Council head of advocacy Andy Hewett.
“The government recognised the need for families to be together when supporting people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. They must show the same compassion and recognise that Afghans who suffered so much already have the right to be with their families.”
“We need to see the government uphold their promises by immediately creating a safe route, to ensure that family members who are in danger in Afghanistan are able to reunite and find safety with their loved ones here in the UK.”
A recent Immigration Summit heard from Lord Alf Dubs, who fled the Nazis to Britain as a child. JAYDEE SEAFORTH reports on his message that we need to increase public empathy with desperate people seeking asylum
