HUNTER residents who want to help welcome Afghan refugees to the region have been urged to consider donating to an Adamstown Uniting Church campaign.
Reverend Dr Rod Pattenden said the church was collecting gift cards for major stores to give to Northern Settlement Services, which is responsible for resettling 50 recently-arrived Afghan refugees and the 26 on the way.
"These people have only just got off a plane from Kabul within a week or two and they're landing in Australia with literally whatever they can carry in one bag under their arms," Dr Pattenden said.
"Part of what we've offered to do is to help raise some funds so that these people can have their basic needs met today, not tomorrow or next week, but to have some shoes on their feet and food in their stomachs, so it's about an immediate urgent need to give the basic support. I think it's a gesture of welcome."
Dr Pattenden said the church had received offers of donations to pass on, but decided gift cards were safer during the pandemic and also gave the new residents a sense of choice, empowerment and the ability to buy food they liked and clothes to fit their children.
"This is the way to go," he said. "I think further down the track in a couple of weeks, maybe a month's time, there will be need for furniture and fridges and stuff as they find rental accommodation and get themselves on their feet."
Dr Pattenden said most of the refugees were from Pashtun-speaking backgrounds and had been involved with interpreting for the Australian Army.
"We're returning the favour, I think, we're doing one good thing in terms of offering hospitality to people whose lives are in danger in their home country, so not only is it neighbourly, but it's also an issue of human rights and justice."
He said Newcastle was "egalitarian" and its residents looked after each other.
"I think people understand that part of our responsibility is to work for the common good," he said.
"We all belong in social ecological systems and when you help somebody you're really helping all of us. I think it breaks down that kind of individualistic mentality we have that we've all got to survive and do our own thing.
"Here's an opportunity to help the wider community and [it reinforces] this idea of the common good, just being generous as a human habit."
Dr Pattenden said the church had already given NSS $5000 worth of cards last Thursday.
"It's been fantastic - what's interesting is it's been from a small amount of people, someone gave $500 and another person $250," he said.
"Most people turning up are giving at least $50 to $100, so if you divide that up it's like 25 people. It's hit a mark, we're all stuck at home, we can't do much to change the world to be a better place, here's something to do to bring a smile to somebody's face today."
He said the gift cards could be dropped off at the Brunker Road church from 9am to 3pm on weekdays, or people could call the church on 4957 1887 for NSS's bank account details.
The Australian government said on August 18 that 3000 places would be allocated to Afghan nationals within the Humanitarian Program, which has 13,750 places annually. It said it anticipated this initial allocation would increase further.
Taliban forces took control of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, on August 15, prompting residents - including many who had worked with the allies - to rush to the airport hoping to secure flights out of the country.
Some ran alongside and clung to the sides of a United States Air Force plane as it took off.
