Names marked with an asterisk have been changed to protect identity
London, United Kingdom – Shams Rahman Fazli is happy that he, his wife and their six children were able to leave Afghanistan.
Fazli, who worked at the British embassy in Kabul, arrived with his family in the UK in late July, shortly before the Taliban came to power.
The group sought to identify people like Fazli – those who have worked with foreign governments – as potential targets.
When evacuating, they managed to bring some basic items with them, including one that has proven to be the most practical – a smartphone.
When the Fazlis were being pushed back and forth between different cities in England and holed up in several hotels, Shams founded a WhatsApp group to keep in touch with his extended family members who were still stuck in Kabul.
Worried about her safety, the news is at least reassuring.
“This is how we communicate with each other and find out what is happening to each of us,” he told Al Jazeera.
‘Important Access’
Fazli now lives in the northern city of Bradford after arriving in England as part of an emergency evacuation of more than 7,000 Afghans and their families who were assisting British forces in Afghanistan, a program called the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).
While he had his phone with him, many others don’t, let alone other devices, making them even more difficult to integrate.
Organizations and companies are now stepping in to bridge this digital divide.
“It is absolutely important for these families to have access to good digital equipment,” Krish Kandiah, who helps Afghans Welcome, a coalition of Christian charities that helps newly arrived Afghans settle in the UK, told Al Jazeera.
“You can only really stay in touch with your family with your smartphone [back home]. “
The coalition has teamed up with UK children’s aid organization Barnardo’s and cell phone company Vodafone to deliver 5G-enabled tablets and smartphones to Afghan families, with the first shipment coming last week.
Afghans Welcome is an association of Christian charities that help newly arrived Afghans settle in the UK [Krish Kandiah/Al Jazeera]
The other groups that are making digital access easier for these newbies include the UK grocery retailer Tesco, which is working with the UK Red Cross to deliver 600 SIM cards preinstalled with three months’ worth of credit.
UK wireless operator Lycamobile has partnered with city councils across England to deliver 1,000 prepaid SIM cards to Afghans in London and Leicester.
“Closing the digital divide in our society must be a priority,” Lycamobile chief Navanit Narayan told Al Jazeera, adding that the pandemic has increased the importance of virtual connectivity.
Address digital exclusion
Emily Knox, director of a program at the Red Cross that helps migrants find families and refugees reunite families, said her work during the pandemic highlighted the importance of tackling digital exclusion.
“What we found … is that it’s really hard for them to integrate when they’re apart from loved ones,” Knox told Al Jazeera. “Someone said to us earlier, ‘Physically, I am in the UK’, but mentally … they are with their separated loved one.”
The Red Cross partnership with Tesco and other retailers has provided 311 SIM cards and 126 cell phones to Afghan families in need, including Haji *, his wife and their three children.
They arrived in the UK after a dangerous journey.
After Haji was injured in a roadside explosion in Kabul, Haji knew they had to leave. They hid for four days and boarded one of the last flights from Kabul. In the chaotic early days of the Taliban takeover, they waded through huge crowds at the capital’s airport.
Once in the UK, the organization gave them basic services – after having nothing but clothes on their backs – including a SIM card.
“It was so important to get a SIM card from you – I’m so grateful to have it because I could let my friends and family know that it was okay and that I was safe,” said Haji.
Afghan women and children, say these organizations, have an even greater need for digital empowerment.
Most Afghans who speak English are men, said Kandiah of Afghans Welcome.
While his coalition has put resources online in the two languages many Afghans speak, Pashto and Dari, some Afghan women are illiterate. The group is now reviewing the development of audio material in their native language.
Women “more isolated”
Knox also said the Red Cross was focused on giving Afghan women cell phones.
“What we found are… the female members of the family [who don’t] have your own cell phone … [are] feel a little more isolated, ”she said.
Meanwhile, some Afghan children have not been to school for months – first because of the pandemic, then the political instability in Afghanistan and now they are waiting to be settled in the UK.
A laptop program that the UK government began at the height of the pandemic for children at risk has now been expanded to include young Afghans, Kandiah said.
Afghan women and children have greater needs for digital empowerment, according to organizations helping with resettlement efforts [File: Alastair Grant/AP Photo]
While Afghan children wait for permanent housing and schooling, “digital devices give children access to educational software,” said Kandiah.
Fazli, who has not yet benefited from digital technology programs in the UK, is hoping his children will be able to access smartphones and laptops – especially his two daughters.
A major reason Fazli left Afghanistan with his family was because he feared the future of his daughters’ education under Taliban rule.
“You really need to be connected to the Internet,” Fazli said of his daughters. “To know what is happening in our society … [and to be able to] … to enhance [their] Education.”
