More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Classrooms used in the county by a charity to help young asylum seekers adapt to life in the UK have fallen silent due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Lessons for unaccompanied refugees usually run in Folkestone and Canterbury by Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) are cancelled as the country goes into lockdown to prevent further spread of the virus, one of many services in Kent halted by the pandemic.
The charity says those it works with - mostly children and young people who have arrived in the UK from unstable regions without family - are particularly vulnerable as they are often already isolated from the communities in which they live.
Bridget Chapman, a KRAN learning and project coordinator from Folkestone, explained that many of the youngsters live in accommodation without wifi or television, so any extended period of self-isolation would be extremely challenging for them.
They also risk running out of food because the financial support they receive is not enough to allow them to easily stock up essentials for any longer periods of enforced isolation.
Food banks have been established in Folkestone and Canterbury to collect non-perishable produce to help the young people through the lockdown period.
Ms Chapman said: "We have been working with our young people for weeks to make sure they are thinking in terms of what they need to be looking for, like things with long best-before dates and dried food that will keep. Encouraging them to build up some kind of larder.
"Imagine living in a flat where you have no internet, no TV, very few reading materials in your first language. Some have internet on their phone but they would normally go out to top it up."
Although regular lessons have had to stop because of the outbreak, other services such as mentoring and advocacy have simply moved online or will be conducted by phone.
Ms Chapman also praised the Kent community who had rallied round with offers of spare televisions or donations of goods for the food banks.
Today KRAN received a large donation of food from Ben and Lucy Cuthbert, who own Market Square and a number of other venues in Folkestone, while Folkestone Wholefoods in the Old High Street has agreed to be a drop-off point for food bank collections in the town.
KRAN has also written to MPs asking them to consider whether the young asylum seekers they work with can be given access to shops during periods set aside for those in the community considered vulnerable during the coronavirus crisis.
