Yalda, the winter solstice celebrated with poetry and fruit in Afghanistan, was a much more staid occasion this year. There are about 12,000 Afghans who had worked with the UK government or British forces, and eligible for resettlement under the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2021/09/13/how-uks-afghan-resettlement-scheme-will-work/">Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy initiative</a>. In one hotel, where about 20 families have been staying since the beginning of the month, residents are served meals together three times a day in the dining area but are otherwise expected to stay in their rooms, where they are not allowed to take food. Requests for watermelon or pomegranate – the traditional fruit eaten to commemorate the longest night of the year – were rejected. Borrowing a speaker from the hotel reception through which to play traditional music was also out of the question. This difficulty is compounded by Home Office delays in processing permanent housing and residency cards for the 12,000 new arrivals. Frustrations are echoed among other Afghans across the country, who say they are simply “waiting for their turn” to start living normally. Even among those who have been housed, a feeling of being settled remains elusive. “For me it is challenging, not having a job and sitting at home and [I] don’t feel useful or effective,” says the one-time chief executive of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and former political officer with the British embassy, who was <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2021/09/17/afghan-family-reveals-bittersweet-highs-and-frustrating-lows-of-new-life-in-britain/" target="_blank">resettled in Perth</a> in northern Scotland with his children in October. “I’m highly educated and experienced but then in a small town, there isn’t a lot of opportunity which makes me depressed and disappointed, but I’m staying hopeful and using my network,” Sayed Hashimi tells<i><b> </b></i><i>The National.</i> Sayed wishes he had more support and that the government would focus on training and employment programmes that will help refugees “stand on their own two feet” and build an independent life. Ideal as that autonomy sounds for all concerned, the Home Office’s resettlement plans have been plagued by delays and criticism over poor planning and communication. For its part, the government has repeatedly lauded undertaking its “biggest and fastest” emergency evacuation in recent history, and the “huge effort now under way” to get families permanently housed to “rebuild their lives.” For the thousands of Afghans with only the four walls of their hotel room to stare at and mounting worries about those back home in Afghanistan, piecing together a life of their own seems a long way from beginning.
