I was finally feeling at home. Now I’m being chucked out of my asylum hotel

The Home Office tried to send Zain on the Bibby Stockholm barge (Picture: Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

My phone buzzed and I answered it with trepidation.

It was 15 August 2021 and the call was from my job, urging me not to go into work that day.

The unthinkable had happened – the Taliban had taken control of Kabul and my life was in immediate danger. This is because I worked at the airport for the International Security Assistance Force, which helped provide protection to NATO and US staff, but the Taliban was against them.

As a result, I had no choice but to flee my home country. Almost three years later, I’m now in the UK, but I’m being forced to uproot my life yet again.

Before the Taliban took over, my life in Afghanistan was great. I had a stable job and was earning good money.

But when both the US and NATO pulled out of the country in the weeks and months leading up to that fateful day in Kabul, I became increasingly nervous.

No one could believe that the Taliban could capture the capital, let alone so rapidly within a two-week offensive.

As soon as I received the alert about not coming into work, I packed a bag and left my home immediately – informing my family of my plans to flee the country to neighbouring Pakistan.

Lucky I did, because Taliban fighters actually came to my house that very same night and asked my brother where I was. He lied and said he didn’t know.

By the very next day, I had made my way to Pakistan on foot.

After two or three days, I decided to go to Iran, then to Turkey because I had some family there. I stayed there for around a year while I came up with a plan for what to do – including finding a good smuggler to get me to safety in Europe.

Eventually, I crossed the border into Greece, then a boat to Italy, and then onto France.

I started attending college and I feel lucky to be able to study, while I also go to prayers each week at a local mosque

This is where I thought I might stay, but people I met there advised me to go to the UK because I knew the language better and I was told it was a country that was sympathetic to the plight of Afghans.

Many people advised me not to cross the English Channel on a small boat because it was too dangerous, so there were smugglers I paid to get on a lorry and come by truck.

When I finally arrived on UK soil in April last year, I felt relieved and happy that my journey was finally over. Thankfully, I was able to update my family via WhatsApp to tell them that I was safe.

After a short Home Office interview where I provided my ID card to prove that I worked with NATO, I was given an address for accommodation in Haringey while I waited for my main interview.

It’s a small, quiet hotel in a good north London location that houses up to 30 people.

This is where I first came across the Haringey Migrant Support Centre, who have been supporting me with advice and casework support, as well as connecting me with Duncan Lewis Solicitors. My interview with the Home Office is actually this week so I’m nervous but hopeful about that.

I received notice from the Home Office contractor managing the hotel I’m staying in that they’re closing it down. I was devastated

Over the last year or so, I started attending college and I feel lucky to be able to study, while I also go to prayers each week at a local mosque. Unfortunately, I cannot work while I’m waiting for an asylum decision so I struggle with the forced idleness of my situation.

But to further complicate things, in December last year, I received notice from Clearsprings – the Home Office contractor managing the hotel I’m staying in – that they’re closing it down. I was devastated because I was only just starting to feel settled.

I was to be moved to Napier Barracks, but it’s quite far from the support network I’ve built up in Haringey so I didn’t want to go there. Thankfully, my local MP, Catherine West, intervened and the relocation did not go ahead.

Instead, the Home Office tried to send me on the Bibby Stockholm barge – an engineless barge for asylum seekers, where someone took their own life last year. I didn’t want to end up with the same fate so my lawyer successfully appealed the decision.

I don’t know where I’ll be sent next but I’ve been told that I’ll find out this week. All I know is that the Haringey hotel will be closed by 19 April so I’ll have to accept whatever new accommodation I’m given.

I’m devastated because I likely won’t be able to go to my local mosque or supermarket anymore. The distance will be too far and the costs of transport too great. My life was finally starting to feel somewhat settled and this is the last thing I needed right before my big Home Office interview.

Of course, I hope for a positive decision on my asylum case this week. Then I hope to be able to get a job to be able to pay for my own accommodation. 

The Government needs to clear the asylum seeker backlog so that people like me can get on with our lives. I worked with NATO and I wouldn’t have left Afghanistan if my life wasn’t in danger – surely this work with western countries should count for something.

I may not know where I’m going to be living in the UK but thankfully, at least I’m in a country where I feel safe. My family – who are still in Pakistan – aren’t so lucky.

I don’t know what will become of them and there’s so much uncertainty right now. All I want is for some sense of stability right now.

As told to James Besanvalle, via translator provided by Clear Voice.

The name of the author has been changed to protect his identity. For more information about Haringey Migrant Support Centre, visit their website here.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing James.Besanvalle@metro.co.uk. 

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