Catterick army veteran leads 'buddy box' scheme to help Afghan refugees learn English in schools.
Mark Hill MBE says he wants to help children communicate with each other in a fun, positive and educational way.
Last updated 2nd Nov 2021
An armed forces veteran has made 'buddy boxes' to help Afghan refugees learn English in schools.
Mark Hill, 52, a veteran and entrepreneur from Catterick, North Yorkshire, said when he heard the news of the evacuation flights to the UK, he wanted to help young Afghans entering the UK school system feel welcome.
The digital Afghan Buddy Box is a free digital resource created and designed in Microsoft PowerPoint and made available online for teachers to use in their classes.
It makes use of text, pictures and audio to translate Dari and Pashto to English, and is being used in more than 50 schools, including internationally.
Mark explains that the project first started back in 2018 after an experience at his local school in Catterick Garrison:
"I went to see the headmaster and outside his office were four pupils sat at a table; I said to him jokingly 'have they been naughty' and of course they hadn't. He explained that they were Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and didn't speak English.
"I offered to have a chat with them, as I can speak Arabic. Instantly the kids looked up with beaming smiles, and there was that connection as the language barrier had been broken.
"I wanted to create something, and when you do team building activities you do something called an 'ice breaker'. I got four boxes, and in each box there were flashcards with Arabic on one side and English on the other.
"It meant the kids could communicate with each other in a fun, positive and educational way. Moving forward to around 8 weeks ago when everybody saw on TV about Afghan families coming to the UK, I thought about their children who would eventually be coming to school.
"I wanted to take the existing boxes to schools and help them. I had the idea of an Aghan buddy box, but I didn't have the resources; I decided to put it into the Cloud and created it in PowerPoint.
"I've created a number of boxes covering basic conversation in school, days of the week, numbers, the alphabet, telling the time and much more".
Mark says the response has been brilliant, and has grown beyond North Yorkshire.
"With social media it's gone from the tip of Scotland down to the south coast - and into France and Germany. I've got some great technology to help.
"A French teacher in the Midlands got in touch recently and asked me to translate French, English and the Dari equivalent. Buddy boxes are now translating some lessons and it's helping the development and the initial icebreaker for that initial communication tool".
More information on the buddy box scheme can be found here.