Lossie woman speaks out about helping resettle Afghan refugees
Liz Tait was deployed to Afghanistan last month
Last updated 20th Sep 2021
An NHS worker has described how she was involved in rescuing "frightened" Afghan refugees.
Liz Tait, who is Head of Clinical and Care Governance at Dr Gray's Hospital and Health and Social Care Moray, was deployed by the British Red Cross to Afghanistan last month.
She was providing psychosocial support to families en-route from Kabul to the UK as she's been working with the charity more than 15 years.
Liz, from Lossiemouth. says many refugees were worried about being separated again as they had been in Kabul.
She said: "These large military planes normally carry 180 or 190 people, but regularly we were taking over 400 evacuees off these planes.
"They were all sitting on the floor of the planes - small children sitting in parents’ laps, toddlers sitting beside parents with an arm around them.
"They were really frightened as some had very traumatic journeys trying to get through Kabul and had been separated on route
"Some of them were unwell, some of them were injured, most of them were very hungry as they had not eaten for several days.
Helping refugees was "humbling"
When Liz is on call, she has to be ready to be deployed within six hours.
The high-pressure environments she works in means she can be sent out for no more than 10 days at a time.
She added: "Right at the end, as people boarded their flights to the UK, they expressed their gratitude and I found it quite humbling as I'm only doing what I've been trained to do over the years.
"Although the deployment was finished in Dubai and Kabul, our work will continue in the UK, but in just a slightly different way,
"The Red Cross is still involved.
"We didn't finish the task when the plane door closed.
"We know it’s not the end of the story, that Red Cross support will continue for these evacuees.
Scotland Director at the British Red Cross, Marie Hayes, said: "The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Cross and Red Crescent have been providing humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan for over 30 years.
"We will not stop now.
"The British Red Cross is urging Scots to help meet people’s basic needs by donating to our Afghanistan Appeal. Your money can provide food, basic medical supplies and medicines, shelter and water."