18 Dec 2024 | Updated 18 Dec 2024
Khalsa Aid are using their influence across the Asian community for good in the UK with a proactive international student-focused project.
Tuition fees are at an all time high in the UK, and international students are certainly not exempt. Most degrees in the UK exceed £10,000 per year and can easily ramp up to £38,000 per year depending on honours and educational institution. On top of this, international students must account for their living costs, which is an additional £9,200-£12,000 per month on average, transportation, learning materials and books, and food.
If this was not enough, students from abroad report experiences of exploitation from landlords and employers in the UK. Appealing for help proves difficult for this vulnerable group due to language and cultural barriers. This pattern is far too frequent, and has unfortunately developed into an evergrowing gap in education system that must be bridged as soon as possible.
Khalsa Aid has been alerted to the concerning profiteering and abuse of newly enrolled international students. Recognising its wide reach and influence within the Asian community in the UK, Khalsa Aid has aimed to do good and create a supportive safe for this vulnerable community, and has continued to develop its International Student Welfare Project.
The project was piloted in Southall in 2022 with an informational seminar. These seminars have continued in locations across the UK and promise its registered attendees with warm food, drink and printed educational resources.
Furthermore, Khalsa Aid’s flagship UK project Langar Aid have facilitated three successful grocery distributions this winter period, a particularly dire time for international students. In two years, the project has seen over 1,200 beneficiaries altogether across West London and in the West Midlands, and has provided each with a one month grocery package filled with flour (atta), chickpea and kidney bean (chole and rajma) tins, spices, rice bags, a litre of vegetable oil and many more non-perishable items like tea and other canned goods.
Langar Aid are excited to announce its third grocery distribution, taking place on the 22nd of December in Wolverhampton.
Khalsa Aid hope to grow awareness surrounding this overlooked issue with the International Student Welfare Project. To further support this cause, continue to educate yourself and your loved ones, donate, and share news of our upcoming distribution event in Wolverhampton.