Since the beginning of September, Camden has welcomed around 700 children and young people following the crisis in Afghanistan. Local voluntary sector organisations have been leading the response alongside Camden Council.
Over the past couple of months, we have been delighted to welcome these new members of our community into the park and playground. It’s been great to see the widespread use and enjoyment Afghan families have made of our seven acres of green space in this otherwise densely populated part of London. Placed in local bridging hotels with no gardens, our facilities are a valuable resource for local Afghan children and young people.
In recent weeks however we have begun a concerted and collaborative effort alongside our community partners to offer more dedicated and targeted support across our services for newly arrived families from Afghanistan.
Running new sessions in our Under-5s Drop In, we are able to provide an enriching environment of play for young Afghan children. Moreover, the space acts a vital site for parents and families to socialise with one another and access information and advice. For those older children, our Youth and Sports teams have been providing a safe space for young people to hang out with their peers, take part in a variety of activities and get to know our youth workers. With up to 90 members of the Afghan community in attendance each week, the response to these dedicated sessions has been overwhelmingly positive.
We are so proud to be a part of such a welcoming community in Camden and to be able to work with such inspiring children, young people and families. We would like to take this opportunity to thank those local partners who have been instrumental in the success of this work so far. We are hugely grateful for the expertise of the Camden Early Years and Hopscotch Women’s Centre teams, Holborn Community Association, Calthorpe Project, KCBNA, our food partners Life After Hummus, and the vital Afghan translators and other experts from the Camden community who make these sessions possible.
For those reading who want to support Camden’s Afghanistan crisis response, click here to see the number of ways you can help.
