To put yourself in the shoes of a refugee - forced to flee your home to a new and foreign land, trying to grasp a new language, new friends and a new life. To imagine a life like this is unthinkable for us, but for the 26 million refugees this is the harsh reality. 

 

Amidst the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, I was interested to know about what our community was doing to help, so I interviewed Despina Tsiakalou from local charity ‘Young Roots.’ 

 

London based charity, Young Roots works with young refugees from around the world to “help them realise their potential through educational activities and support them through one-to-one case work services.” The charity, this year itself, has impacted 560 people, helping them through a range of ways: one of which being young people-decided trips. 

 

A previous trip to Greenwich that was debated and planned meticulously, saw them taking leadership by spending an allocated budget and discussing what they thought would be the best idea. Despina remarked: “Young people really enjoy all these activities because they don’t have the opportunity to do much of this otherwise, as finance is a problem,” later adding that, “they say Young Roots helps them to be more confident to talk to other young people and other people from the UK more easily, giving a positive impact on their confidence.” 

 

However, March 2020 saw the rise of Coronavirus cases and Young Roots had to close services. Despina said that “the pandemic really affected the way we work and the young people we support as one of our aims is to reduce social isolation, so with the pandemic reducing how often we could see young people face-to-face, that was really difficult because they don't have the support networks around them. Being in a house or hotel room by yourself can be very scary.” Fortunately, the charity was able to adapt quickly in these unprecedented times, moving nearly all services online by only April that same year! We often take for granted our situation during the lockdown and shockingly, most of the young people the charity worked with didn’t have the correct facilities like laptops or even phones to engage with their schoolwork. As well as ensuring that everyone had laptops and phones; encouraging them to exercise and create art with whatever materials they had at home; sending fruit parcels to keep them healthy, Young Roots was also able to carry on their English conversation club. This club continued to help the young refugees improve their English through a series of one-to-one sessions over 8 weeks, adding a sense of routine to their lives. 

 

When asked about the current situation in Afghanistan, Despina replied that the refugees who still have family in Afghanistan were impacted by the news and the uncertainty of the whole crisis. “We had young people wondering where their family is, whether they would be able to talk to them or see them again.”  Despite the incertitude of what is going on, Young Roots are still trying their best to help young people on both an emotional level and help them find support and advice. 

 

One question still remains: what can you do within your own community to help? So when I asked Despina this question, she replied, “There are many ways you can help young refugees. The most obvious way is to support and donate to charities like Young Roots who are helping provide really vital support to young people during crises. The other way is to use your voice and advocate for the right of refugees to safety and to also educate yourselves of the challenges they face on a day to day basis.” 

 

 Here is the link for this charity if you would like to find out more: www.youngroots.org.uk