A day at the bridging hotel in London – What it’s like for Zep

Paiwand advocates and volunteers work in the hotels provided by the Government and Councils to support newly arrived persons in the UK. We are direct witnesses to the refugees’ new daily life in these temporary accommodations. This series of small articles depicts some of the refugees’ typical daily routine at a bridging hotel in central London. It recounts some of the different stories unfolding in this particular living environment.  

Since the Taliban captured Kabul last August, thousands of Afghans have fled to the UK. According to government numbers, over 15,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan during the large-scale military operation now referred to as Operation Pitting. The government helped another 1,500 out of the country since the evacuation. Upon arrival in the UK, Afghan evacuees were placed in hotel accommodation while waiting for a new home.  
 
Tricia Hayes, the Home Office Second Permanent Secretary, told the Home Affairs Committee a few weeks ago that although 4,000 Afghan refugees have moved out of their hotel and into a new home, 12,000 still live in “bridging accommodation”. For thousands of people, life is put on hold. Their daily routines, along with virtually everything else in their lives, changed drastically, and are poised to change completely again as soon as they are allocated new permanent residence.  
 
Paiwand advocates and volunteers work in the hotels provided by the Government and Councils to support newly arrived persons in the UK. We are direct witnesses to the refugees’ new daily life in these temporary accommodations. This series of small articles depicts some of the refugees’ typical daily routine at a bridging hotel in central London. It recounts some of the different stories unfolding in this particular living environment.  
 
This week’s story is about Zep. Her name has been changed at her request to protect her privacy. She was able to be transported to the UK in November as she used to work for a British organisation in Afghanistan. The London hotel she lives in is her second residence in the UK – before that she stayed in another bridging accommodation in the north of England. Zep shared with us that, since she arrived, her day-to-day life changed in almost every way imaginable. “My life is nothing like it was in Afghanistan,” she confided. 
 
Here is what a day in Zep’s life currently looks like. She wakes up at 5:30 and prays for two to three minutes in her room where she lives alone, as she is single and has no direct family that met the eligibility criteria for relocation with her under existing government schemes. We asked why she still wakes up so early, as she has a lot of free time during the day. She does not have a job in London, as she does not know when and where she will need to move again. “Habit,” she replies parsimoniously.  
 
Her prayers are a constant variable, and maybe the only ritual that hasn’t been disrupted by her evacuation. She then sets out to tidy and clean her room meticulously for at least an hour every morning. Once again, we wondered why; especially as the hotel offers a cleaning service. “It’s a habit of mine, I do it every morning,” she simply replied. We understand that habits and repeated practices hold an important role in her life, they provide continuity and anchorage. 
 
To finish her morning routine, she usually gets ready and has breakfast around 8:00 alone; every once in a while, she will eat with her former Afghan colleagues that live in the same hotel. She then calls her mother. She talks to her twice a day without fail, after breakfast and at the end of the afternoon. She stays in her room the rest of the morning.  
 
After lunch, she attends online English classes provided by the BBC for one to two hours. We asked her what she thinks of the lessons. “They’re very useful for me,” she tells us and goes on to add: “Every day I use what we learn in class in face-to-face conversations.” The classes teach practical vocabulary on how to perform daily tasks through spoken interaction, making them highly valuable for Zep and her classmates. This week, she learnt how to make a doctor’s appointment, she tells us proudly. The rest of her afternoons are split between English homework, regular prayers, and paperwork. “You know what I do in the afternoons,” she replied jokily when we inquired. “I’m with you guys,” she said, pointing to the volunteers and advocates at the desk. She usually has a lot of administrative tasks to complete, such as appointments with the Job Centre, visa and Universal Credit applications, bank account openings and GP appointments, all of which Paiwand helps her out with. 
 
When everything is done, she spends time alone in her room, either on her phone, reading, or thinking about her new life. She uses Google to plan what she will do after settling in a permanent house. She tries to organise her new life by searching the internet for prospective jobs and gathering information about her new country. She looked overwhelmed as she said this, her voice going a little quieter. When she’s not overwhelmed by thoughts about the uncertainty of her future in a new country, she is haunted by the past - by memories of her family in Afghanistan and what life used to be like. In her room, she reminisces: “I cry a lot at night.” 
 
At the end of the day, she has dinner with her former colleagues in the hotel restaurant. They have recently decided that once a week, usually on the weekend, they would eat dinner outside of the hotel. Zep’s smile lit up her face as she shared this. We saw that these moments of social interaction with people from her culture are important in her routine. “Usually, we go to one of our rooms after dinner for tea,” she rejoiced, “we take turns - tonight is my turn to welcome them.” After tea, she prays one last time and calls her sister and nephews, whom she told us she misses greatly, before going to bed. This time of day, when Zep is alone in her hotel room, she is often emotional.  
 
Although Zep’s day at the hotel differs from that of other residents, most of which are families with children, it is an eloquent testimony to the resilience and strength Afghans demonstrate daily. By agreeing to talk to us about her new life, Zep shared a story that makes apparent the centrality of daily anchors in the form of systematic routines, religious rituals, and familiar social bonds.