Retired journalist collects care packs to help refugees
VOLUNTEER FILLS GARAGE WITH ITEMS IN NEED
A RETIRED journalist has filled her garage with care packages to help west London refugees living on £6 a day.
Siobhan Bryar has been contacted by nurses to help those arriving as they are treated in hospital.
The crisis in Afghanistan has meant that thousands of refugees have been arriving in the UK with nothing but the clothes they are wearing.
Hospitals in the capital are not able to cope with demand and need toiletries, clothes, shoes and sanitary products.
Siobhan, from Ealing, said: “As refugees are coming into London we now need more help and more donations than ever before.
“Asylum seekers get less than £6 a day [£39.63 a week] per person to live on. This has to provide for food, clothes and all other things apart from accommodation and bills.
“There is a huge need for clothes in London which is exemplified by the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. I was recently alerted that refugees who were in London hospitals didn’t have enough clothes.
“A nurse told me this and we got together some care packages so that these vulnerable people could be dressed.”
Siobhan explained that her next move was to contact major UK retailers and supermarkets and see if they could donate sanitary products for refugees.
Hospitals in the capital need a variety of products.
These include sanitary products, baby milk and shoes.
There has not been a public call for help, but Siobhan explained that nurses have been contacting her to ask for aid.
She said: “I searched around for storage places for all the clothes and essentials that I was collecting.
“I contacted councillors and MPs, but all normal spaces were being used for Covid vaccination centres.
“I decided to use my house as my storage space.
“I’ve found that if you make it easy for people to help then they will. People are generous, but lots of sites that take donations only have two-hour slots – that doesn’t usually work because people find it inconvenient.
“I usually just say put the donations on my porch and I get loads.
“I recently asked people to help donate to raise money for underwear and raised around £600, which I’m sure will go up.
“Now I can provide hundreds of quality underwear to people that really need it. I thought what I was doing was a lot, but speaking to others in the area I know that I am only scratching the surface”.
Prior to the refugee crisis, Siobhan began helping those in need in Southall and Heathrow during the Covid-19 lockdowns. When the pandemic struck the retired journalist went about sourcing laptops, including between 50 and 60 for one school – more than the Government provided.
The Ministry of Defence says it has flown more than 15,000 people out of Afghanistan, of which 7,000 are Afghan nationals.
The UK has announced plans to accept 20,000 Afghan refugees over the long term.
I was recently alerted that refugees who were in London hospitals didn’t have enough clothes
Siobhan Bryar