Metro Profile picture
23 Nov, 11 tweets, 3 min read
‘Right now, in Afghanistan women have no power. Even to go out of the house, they have to ask permission.’

Since receiving asylum in the UK, Bahar fears for women’s lives in Afghanistan and wants to help.

This is her story 👇

trib.al/e2l1OSX
Bahar was a very happy girl in Afghanistan until the Taliban came to rule in 1997.

‘No woman could go out without a man accompanying. I lived like a prisoner at home.’
Bahar says the Taliban killed her two brothers, cousins, and fatally wounded her mother.

Soon after, she sought the help of an ‘agent’ who arranged the trip that would help her escape Afghanistan.
Bahar managed to escape Taliban rule and fled Afghanistan in 2000. She spent three years travelling through various countries by foot, lorry, train and taxi.

Bahar finally arrived in the UK in the back of a lorry while 8 months pregnant.
‘A month after arriving in the UK by lorry, I gave birth in hospital without an interpreter. It was scary – I was surrounded by doctors and nurses and I didn’t know what was happening to me. But having my daughter was life-changing.’
Bahar and her husband were given accommodation in Bradford whilst waiting for their asylum claim to be processed.

After a year they were granted refugee status for four years and moved to Leeds.
‘We couldn’t afford a TV licence, but we’d buy videos second-hand, and that’s how I started to learn English.’

Bahar also met an English couple, Dorothy and Chris, who helped her practice her English and gave her a high chair for her baby.
‘For years, I stayed at home raising my kids. Then, one day, I realised I wanted to make my mother proud. I applied for a volunteer role at Leeds Asylum Network, and got it – I looked after the new arrivals. I felt like I’d finally found myself.’
Meanwhile in Afghanistan, as women started to return to school, people thought there was going to be a new country.

But, Bahar says, ‘the Taliban are back in power, and women have lost everything again. I have only one sister in my life, and I really fear for her.’
The UK government says that 5,000 people will be resettled this year, and 15,000 over the next couple of years, but Bahar insists that it is too little, too late.

‘The government is criminalising Afghans who can’t afford to wait,’ says Bahar.
Bahar has since started @BaharAFG_Leeds to help support refugees from all different backgrounds to have equal opportunities in day to day UK life.

To read Bahar’s story in full, click below 👇

trib.al/e2l1OSX

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Metro

Metro Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @MetroUK

24 Nov
The head of the Oxford jab programme has warned that those who have not had a jab are now virtually the only ones struggling to breathe 💉

metro.co.uk/2021/11/24/alm…
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard's intervention comes with various medics working in hospital expressing similar concerns – with some saying their patience is ‘wearing thin’ with anti-vaxxers and the amount of resources the NHS is spending on people who have not been jabbed.
In a Guardian piece jointly authored Oxford University infectious diseases professor Brian Angus, Sir Andrew wrote: ‘This ongoing horror (of patients fighting for breath), which is taking place across ICUs in Britain, is now largely restricted to unvaccinated people.'
Read 9 tweets
24 Nov
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II recieves a remarkable 300 letters a day.

But after finding herself struggling with a series of health issues recently she is looking for an assistant corresponce officer to help with replies.

metro.co.uk/2021/11/24/you…
Her Majesty reportedly receives up to 300 letters per day – or more than 60,000 a year – and she famously sends people bespoke notes for their 100th birthday.

We're getting hand cramp just thinking about it.
The successful applicant must have administrative experience and ‘excellent’ written communication skills, and must also be able to handle a large volume of correspondence.

Based at Buckingham Palace, it is a 37.5-hour week and it pays £23,500 a year.
Read 8 tweets
24 Nov
Norwegian postal service Posten has released its Christmas TV advert, with Santa Claus finding the man of his dreams.

Titled When Harry met Santa, the advert acknowledges the 50th anniversary of Norway decriminalising homosexuality in 1972.

metro.co.uk/2021/11/24/san…
In it, a shirtless Harry comes downstairs to catch a startled Santa laying out presents under the tree before blushing and dashing off up the chimney.

The following year, Harry lies in bed wondering if Santa will return before hearing knocking in the living room.
As he creeps downstairs, he finds Santa gazing into a black and white photo of Harry in his younger years.

Jumping another 12 months, Harry has got himself all dressed up for Santa, puts on his best cologne and falls asleep on the sofa.
Read 10 tweets
24 Nov
Labour MP Stella Creasy has insisted ‘politics and parenting can mix’ after being told she could no longer bring her three-month-old son to the Commons,

metro.co.uk/2021/11/24/ste…
The mum-of-two, who represents Walthamstow, shared an email which was sent after she brought her baby Pip to a debate yesterday.

The private secretary, who Eleanor Laing, wrote to Ms Creasy: ‘We have been made aware that you were accompanied by your baby in Westminster Hall.'
‘I just wanted to make you aware that the recently published rules of behaviour and courtesies in the House of Commons states that, “You should not take your seat in the Chamber when accompanied by a child” (para 42).’
Read 13 tweets
24 Nov
Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me 📱📳

A collection of mobile phones detailing the history of the device has launched as an online museum with more than 2,000 handsets dating back to 1984.

metro.co.uk/2021/11/24/onl…
The Mobile Phone Museum, founded by Ben Wood and Matt Chatterley, includes high-res photos and backstories for many of the phones in its catalogue.

The museum began as a personal collection started by Mr Wood more than 25 years ago and has now grown to more than 2,100 handsets.
To mark the launch, a special one-day exhibition is being held in London, with pupils from a local primary school visiting to experience a show-and-tell with Mr Wood and the museum’s education team on the history of the mobile phone and its significance.
Read 8 tweets
23 Nov
Gambling topped a list of rejected web use at the Department of Health and Social Care last year.

The Whitehall department’s filtering systems also rejected 239 attempts to access malicious or spyware sites and 135 defined as ‘sex, pornography’.

trib.al/LyTgjWD
Attempted betting was followed by over 700 clicks for ‘anonymizer’ tools, which make internet activity untraceable, and 406 for peer-to-peer file sharing sites.

Online betting accounted for most denied access, with more than 2,000 detections in figures disclosed to @MetroUK
The list also includes 186 tries at logging onto ‘tasteless’ content and 126 of material defined as ‘illegal/questionable’, according to the data released under the Freedom of Information Act.
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(