Caritas - Emergency Accommodation Needed

[Dominic]

I received this email from Wendy tonight. She is the lady who runs Caritas Paphos. I am reproducing it here verbatim, but first, this is the summary:

A group of refugees are looking for an apartment, preferably 3 bedroom. Two of the men looking have work and will pay the rent. One of the women is about to give birth and there is a risk social services will take the baby away if they cannot find better accommodation than the dump they are living in at the moment.

If anybody knows anybody who may be able to help, please call Caritas, 99040294 (Wendy).
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This is the full message:

Dear Dominic,

Please can you help? – I am hoping an appeal on Paphos Life might bring an offer of accommodation for some asylum seekers in a serious situation. They are all from Cameroon.

Let me explain. V....., 28 years, is due to deliver her baby any day now. She is living in a dump: substandard conditions, a rundown (mildew on the walls...) one-bedroom apartment. She is in the one bedroom with two other girls. There are also four young men, who sleep in the small sitting-room. Social Welfare has spoken to V.... about taking the baby as conditions are so unsuitable, and are going to visit. V is horrified at the thought of perhaps losing her child.

She and two of the young men have been looking for a two- or preferably three-bedroom apartment at the lowest possible price so they can immediately move. The two men have work and would pay rent, while V.....would look after the home and her new baby (her first). She is, by the way, a highly-qualified teacher.

There is also another Cameroon young woman, who has become a friend of V..... She used to live in the same substandard apartment, sleeping on a sofa. She is also expecting a child, in under 5 weeks. This girl is currently living temporarily in the apartment of a kind Cypriot lady who has offered her shelter, but tenants will be coming in in a few weeks.

Ideally, the apartment they need would be 3-bed, so the new mothers can have a bedroom each, and the two young men will work and keep the rent going. Later on, the two women can help each other with baby-minding, so one or other can find work.

All these asylum-seekers speak English. They are good people and will look after a place. They have been looking hard for somewhere to go, but have come up against strong prejudice against ‘blacks’ – even have been plainly told an apartment is for whites, not for blacks! Both the girls have gone through dreadful experiences (I can’t speak about the young men as I haven’t asked them) – and deserve to find some kindness.

Can anyone come to their help? Please call Caritas, 99040294 (Wendy).

Please, Dominic, would you shape this into something you might post on Paphos Life, and see if there is somebody somewhere who can help?

Thank you so much,

Every good wish,

Wendy