If I could live in peace and freedom in Afghanistan, I would have stayed

Feriba Ahmadi

Graffiti is evident on the red brick walls, and litter skips lie in full view of the flats.

Neither are able to work, nor are they are allowed to claim mainstream benefits.

An adult asylum seeker receives �36.54 in vouchers a week, �10 of which can be exchanged for cash.

No change is given for vouchers and they are only valid in certain shops.

'Peace and freedom'

Mrs Ahmadi said: " In Afghanistan I had lots of money but I was not happy.

"Here I have no money but I am very happy. We have freedom in England which we did not have in Afghanistan.

The housing estate is far from luxurious

"If I could live in peace and freedom in Afghanistan, I would have stayed but I don't feel safe there."

The couple were both born in Kabul, but when the Taleban came to power six years ago their lives changed.

Mrs Ahmadi, who was just 18 at the time, had harboured plans to go to university and become a doctor.

But under the Taleban regime she was forbidden from studying.

Mr Ahmadi, a qualified mechanic, owned his own business but was constantly harassed by the Taleban for money and cars.

Desperate escape

Twice he was held captive and tortured.

The first time he was beaten with a rubber hose, the second time, electrodes were attached to his feet and he was given electric shocks.

The Ahmadis fled war-torn Kabul

Decades of war have also taken their toll on the couple's family.

Mr Ahmadi lost two brothers and a sister when a rocket hit his father's house and Mrs Ahmadi's brother-in-law was killed in bombing raids.

After the couple's children, Hadia, now 6, and Seear, 4, were born, they wanted to raise them in safety.

Mrs Ahmadi said: "All I have known in my country is fighting and war.

"Everything for me is gone and I would not feel safe going back.

"I love England and the people. I feel safe here - not frightened all the time."

The couple's desperation to escape from Kabul meant a drive over the border to Pakistan with their two young children.

Once there, they paid "lots of money" to a Pakistani contact who said he could get them to England.

Despite his assurances, they ended up in Kiev and were eventually put on a train to Germany with no passports or documents

The family spent ten months in detention centres in Germany in what they described as "cramped, over-crowded conditions".

'Decent life'

They eventually arrived in Dover smuggled in the back of a lorry with another family.

Ten months later and daughter Hadia has settled into school, son Seear is in nursery, and Mrs Ahmadi is at college learning English.

The family have the support of Soraya Walton, a governor at Hadia's school, who has become a firm friend.

They also have the support of the school and the local chapel and with the help of Mrs Walton, have secured a solicitor to fight their deportation.

Mrs Walton said: "Most refugees are put in to housing that many people would not want to live in and the majority of refugees lead a clean and decent life.

"People don't want to hear why they have had to leave their country. All they concentrate on is the negative aspect."