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Overcoming the digital divide for Afghans who have just arrived in the UK New Technologies

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Names marked with an asterisk have been changed to protect identities

London, United Kingdom – Shams Rahman Fazli feels fortunate that he, his wife and their six children were able to leave Afghanistan.

Fazli, who worked at the British embassy in Kabul, and his family arrived in the UK in late July before being taken over by the Taliban.

The group aimed to identify people like Fazli – who worked with foreign governments – as potential targets.

In the fight to evacuate, they managed to bring in some basic items, including one that was most useful: a smartphone.

As Fazlia mingled in various cities in England and was housed in various hotels, Shams set up a WhatsApp group to keep in touch with members of his extended family who were still trapped in Kabul.

As far as their safety is concerned, the messages are at least calm.

“That’s how we communicate with each other and find out what’s going on with each of us,” Al Jazeera said.

“Essential access”

Fazli Bradford lives in the northern city, as part of an emergency evacuation of more than 7,000 Afghans and their relatives who arrived in England and helped British forces in Afghanistan, a project called the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP).

While he had the phone with him, many others did not, let alone other gadgets, making their integration much more difficult.

Organizations and companies are taking steps to overcome this digital divide.

“It is absolutely essential that these families acquire good digital equipment,” Krish Kandiah, a coalition of Christian charities that supports Afghans Welcome, told Al Jazeera.

“Using a smartphone is the only way to really get in touch with family [back home]”.

The coalition has teamed up with Britain’s children’s charity Barnardo’s and mobile company Vodafone to deliver 5G-enabled tablets and phones to Afghan families with its first delivery last week.

Afghans Welcome is a coalition of Christian organizations that helps newly arrived Afghans settle in the UK. [Krish Kandiah/Al Jazeera]

Among other groups that provide digital access to these newcomers is Tesco, a British grocery store that has partnered with the British Red Cross to deliver 600 pre-charged SIM cards with a three-month credit.

British mobile operator Lycamobile has teamed up with councils across England to deliver 1,000 prepaid SIM cards to London and Leicester in Afghanistan.

“Closing the digital divide in our society should be a priority,” Lycamobile head Navanit Narayan told Al Jazeera, adding that the pandemic has strengthened the importance of being virtually connected.

Dealing with digital exclusion

Emily Knox, head of a Red Cross program that helps migrants find families and help families reunite with refugees, said the work done during the pandemic has highlighted the importance of tackling digital exclusion.

“What we’ve found … is that when people are separated from their loved ones, it’s very difficult to integrate,” Knox told Al Jazeera. “Someone told us earlier, ‘I’m physically in the UK,’ but mentally … they’re separated from their loved one.”

The Red Cross’s partnership with Tesco and other retailers has provided 311 SIM cards and 126 mobile phones to needy Afghan families, including Haji *, his wife and their three children.

They arrived in the United Kingdom after a dangerous journey.

After being wounded in an explosion on the Kabul road, Haji made it clear that they had to leave. They hid for four days and boarded one of the last flights to leave Kabul, crossing a huge crowd at the capital’s airport during the first chaotic days of the Taliban takeover.

Once in the UK, the organization provided them with basic supplies – leaving clothes simply on their backs – including a SIM card.

“Getting a SIM card from them has been very important. I am very grateful to have it because I want to let my friends and family know that it has done well and I am confident,” Haji said.

Afghan women and children, these organizations say, have an even greater need for digital empowerment.

Most Afghans who know English are male, Kandiah told Afghans Welcome.

Although her coalition has put resources online in two languages ​​spoken by many Afghans, Pashto and Dari, some Afghan women are illiterate. The group is looking at developing audio materials in their native languages.

Women “more isolated”

Knox also said the Red Cross is focused on providing mobile phones to Afghan women.

“What we found is … female family members [who don’t] they have a mobile … [are] I feel a little more isolated, ”he said.

Meanwhile, some children in Afghanistan have been out of school for months: first due to the pandemic, then political instability in Afghanistan, and now waiting to settle in the UK.

The scheme of the laptop launched by the UK government during the pandemic for the most vulnerable children has now been expanded to include young people in Afghanistan, Kandiah said.

Afghan women and children are in greater need of digital empowerment, according to organizations that support relocation efforts. [File: Alastair Grant/AP Photo]

As children in Afghanistan are waiting for permanent housing and school enrollment, “digital devices allow children to access educational software,” Kandiah said.

Fazli, who has not yet benefited from UK digital technology programs, hopes her children will have access to mobile phones and laptops, especially for their two daughters.

One of the main reasons Fazli left his family in Afghanistan was that he feared the future of his daughters ’education under Taliban rule.

“They really need to connect to the Internet,” Fazli said of his daughters. “To know what is happening in our society … [and to be able to] … Improve [their] education”.



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