I read your feature with great interest (Welcome to Britain … now what? Afghan families on their lives in limbo, 26 March). My family met, and have subsequently become friends with, an Afghan family airlifted to Britain last August, and since then living in a hotel in Westminster. I recognise the systemic failures of Operation Warm Welcome: specifically the lack of immediate, personal support, and the dismal performance in finding permanent homes – attributable to the UK’s appalling housing crisis, a crisis for everyone in housing need, not just for our new citizens.
However, at a local level praise should be given where it is due – to the joint council/Home Office project teams working on the ground. I have seen first-hand that children have been in school since October, adults have received English lessons, GP surgeries have been run in the hotel, dental and opticians services have been made widely available, and communications with the Afghan families, using interpreters, have been excellent.
Alongside the organisational response, the specific staff have been warm, friendly and helpful, as have the staff within the hotels. There have been many local initiatives – parties to celebrate Nowruz (Persian new year), Afghan input into the hotel menus – which have run alongside the massive charitable and volunteer response by local communities.
I met my friend earlier this week as he prepared to move to a new hotel outside London following the end of the current arrangements. Although they still face an indefinite period of waiting and uncertainty, he told me that within four or five hours of arriving in the UK last August, he and his family had felt safe, supported and welcome.
Jakki Moxham
London
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