Coronavirus: foreign students in Britain hit hard by pandemic-driven food poverty

Without work or state aid, international students who came to the UK to realise their dreams are plunged into poverty because of the pandemic

Many of them are relying on the Newham Community Project, a local charity which provides food and essentials to over 1,000 students every week

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An international student leaves after collecting food packages from the Newham Community Project food bank in east London on February 16. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:37pm, 19 Feb 2021Updated: 11:43pm, 19 Feb 2021

On a recent rainy evening in East London, dozens of young people lined up outside a cramped community hub to collect rice, vegetables and other food essentials.

In the line were foreign students who came to Britain to pursue their dreams of higher education, but have found themselves plunged into pandemic-driven poverty.

“Finding food here is hard – prices are higher compared to India,” said Jay Patel, an Indian student among those waiting outside the Newham Community Project, a local charity handing out the foodstuffs.

The 19-year-old, who is studying at the University of Greenwich in southeast London, said he has been unable to get a part-time job during the health crisis and could not ask his family back in India for money.

The food bank, which conducts the handouts three nights a week, has become a lifeline for Patel and other foreign students facing a similar plight.

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