Afghan refugee family could be coming to Bridport

The Bridport Refugee Support Campaign has been working to bring a refugee family to Bridport in recent years and members of the group were expecting it would be people from Syria.

However, since the campaign began the Home Office resettlement scheme has been widened beyond Syrian refugees.

Campaigners say there is a chance that the refugee family could be coming from Afghanistan.

Whatever happens, the groups says the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan has again highlighted the plight of refugees.

Barry Lovejoy, chairman of Bridport Refugee Support Campaign, said: "It is entirely possible that we could see an Afghan family settled in Bridport. We don't have any say over the nationality of the family we receive.

"As a result of this terrible situation in Afghanistan we've had a number of people getting in touch and saying the would like to help. This terrible situation has shed light on the situations of refugees in general. This is the most recent example of the plight of these people.

"People are horrified and want to do something to help, seeing the steps people are forced to take just to survive. We've joined forces with other refugee supports groups across the country to issue a statement that the government needs to do a s much as it can to take responsibility and take people in."

He added: "Whether our first family is from Afghanistan or not, it's fairly likely we will take one in eventually as our aim is to continue the process once we've settled our first family in and take as many as possible."

The campaign group has noted that if a family which had been used as interpreters by UK forces is selected, their knowledge of the language would be very helpful. There are not many Arabic speakers in the west Dorset area, which has been one of the main issues the campaign has faced.

Alan Weston, a trustee of the Bridport Refugee Support Campaign, said: "Any community taking an interpreter family has a big head start.

"If you're going to settle a family what you're aiming to do is to give that family a sense of belonging and community. The language skills would help them settle in so much easier."

Earlier this month, the Bridport Refugee Support Campaign successfully raised the required funding to join the government's Community Sponsorship Scheme for refugees.

As part of the scheme, the group must secure local authority consent to resettle the family, find affordable housing, arrange tuition, support towards independence and raise £15,000.