The lead guitarist and banjoist of UK folk rock band Mumford & Sons has set up a “buddy system” to help Hongkongers newly arrived in the UK get acquainted with their new home.
British musician Winston Marshall is co-founder of Hong Kong Link Up, a non-profit organization that aims to pair Hongkongers with local Brits, according to the project’s website.
“Meaningful community integration can take years, sometimes generations,” the site reads. “It doesn’t have to be so. Let’s welcome our new neighbours, bring them into our friend groups, make them feel right at home.”
Tonight Jim Wong @privatejoker831 and myself launch Hong Kong Link Up
How can we in the UK help welcome and integrate Hongkongers as they arrive?@hklinkup aims to match up Brits with Hongkongers to be buddies, mentors and point persons
— Winston Marshall (@MrWinMarshall) January 28, 2021
Hong Kong Link Up is also the work of Jim Wong, a protester who was beaten by police during the Prince Edward Station attacks on Aug. 31, 2019, and announced last summer that he is seeking asylum in the UK.
The UK “buddies” will help Hongkongers with the administrative paperwork that comes with moving to a new country, such as setting up a bank account and registering at a hospital, the organization’s website states.
Marshall is a vocal supporter of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. Last October, he attended a rally in UK to call attention to the 12 Hongkongers detained in Shenzhen after an ill-fated escape to Taiwan.
In December, he tweeted that he is “in favour of UK taking in exiled and fleeing Hongkongers.”
In the wake of Beijing’s passing of a controversial national security law in Hong Kong, the UK government announced that it would be opening up a pathway to citizenship for Hongkongers leaving the former British colony.
Starting this Sunday, applications will open for a five-year visa that will allow Hongkongers and their dependants to live, work and study in the UK.
