Six months after they began to arrive the 500^th family of Afghan evacuees have been supported to settle in their own home.

‘Ahmed’ (not his real name) and his wife and nine children have been supported by refugee and migrant settlement agency AMES Australia moved into a five bedroom house in Melbourne’s west.

“The house is good and the neighbours are friendly and have welcomed us. We cannot believe the support and kindness we have received,” Ahmed said.

“We have received very good support from the start. One daughter starts school on Monday and two more of my daughters are starting English lessons.

“I have three sons who have finished high school, so we are looking at enrolling them in colleges. “My priority is to settle my family. I want to get my kids into school and college because I want my kids to be assets to this country. Then I will look for a job,” he said.

‘Ahmed’, whose identity is not being revealed to protect the safety of relatives still living under the brutal Taliban regime, is one of more than 4000 Afghans who began to arrive in Australia in September after being evacuated from Kabul amid dramatic scenes following the Taliban’s return to power.

AMES Australia has been supporting the new arrivals as they begin new lives in Australia. Over 15 days from the start of September 2021, around 2000 evacuees were supported – the equivalent of six months’ intake of refugees 

The organisation secured 1800 beds in short-term accommodation facilities just days after the arrivals to Australia began.

About 3000 Afghan refugees have been accommodated in short term accommodation since September 2021.

More than 2300 people – representing about 500 families – have been supported to find permanent accommodation – mostly in the south east (Dandenong, Hampton Park and Pakenham) but also in the north (Roxburgh Park, Pascoe Vale and Sunshine) and Melbourne’s west.

More than 230 of the Afghan evacuees are now working and 400 more have been supported to find education of training pathways.

Almost nine tonnes of clothing, shows nappies, baby formula, toiletries and other necessities worth more than $1 million have been gathered and distributed by AMES Australia with the help of around 50 volunteers. Fifteen hundred people have collected donated material goods from AMES’ donations centre.

Regular COVID testing and vaccinations for all clients have been carried out at AMES Australia’s short-term accommodation sites.

There has been an extensive messaging campaign about COVID-19 health advice targeting the refugee clients with information about COVID testing, vaccines, mask-wearing and other safety measures.

There are currently 530 people in short term accommodation and refugees from Afghanistan are continuing to arrive.

AMES Australia CEO Cath Scarth said the effort to support the Afghan evacuees had been “massive”.

“The last six months has seen an extraordinary effort on the part of AMES Australia staff, volunteers, corporate and community partners – and many others – in welcoming the Afghan refugees,” Ms Scarth said.

“In normal years, before the COVID-19 pandemic, AMES would support around 4000 refugees to settle here. With international borders closed, we had seen very few arrivals in the previous 20 months.

“But in fifteen days around the end of September we welcomed almost 2000 people. Almost all of them needed housing, food, clothing, personal necessities, medical and mental health care, COVID vaccinations – and reassurance that things would be OK.

“So, as you can imagine, it was a massive piece of work confronting us – especially in a lock down with COVID safe practices in place, a five kilometre travel limit, shops closed and Centrelink and other support services online.

“I’m proud of the way AMES staff and volunteers responded to the challenge; and I’m also impressed and grateful for the offers help and the tangible support we received from the broader community.

“In the coming months we will be walking beside them supporting the Afghans – many of whom worked alongside Australians in their homeland – to build independent new lives in Australia,” Ms Scarth said.