On-the-ground with Charlie, Jed & the team from our local partner Mobile Refugee Support.
The number of people in a small space took me by surprise as Charlie pulled into the distribution area. I’d guess there were at least 200-300 people – mostly men, but also some families with little kids, and women who appeared to be on their own. And several volunteers – instantly visible by the vans tucked around the edge of the clearing.
The MRS (Mobile Refugee Support) volunteers pulled into the area, parking up in a space on the right at the back and were instantly surrounded by people calling out happily to Charlie and Jed in greeting. First priority was to get the generator and phone charging started and, as it was raining a little, to get a canopy over the top. There are no shortages of offers to help – people keen to get charging, but also only too happy to help. A table was brought out and a big urn of hot water, cups, tea bags, cuppa soups, snacks and, of course sugar, put out for everyone to help themselves to. It was a typically bitter cold day in Northern France and hot tea was popular!
Only a few days’ before the French Police had done yet another heavy-handed ‘clearance’ of the makeshift camp; an early morning exercise (raid) destroying tents and sleeping bags and other belongings to make life unbearable in Grande-Synthe. This time they organised buses too and several hundred people were bussed to far away hotels beyond Paris and potentially as far away as the Spanish border. Consequently there were far fewer people than there had been a week before. I could sense anxiety from the people who were quite newly arrived in Dunkirk Grande-Synthe – they feared being left without the means to survive, left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They don’t know (yet) that police clearances happen every couple of days and that MRS replacing people’s tents and sleeping bags is the rhythm of Dunkirk.
The MRS team quickly organised themselves – taking requests for tents, shoes, clothes and more that they’ll bring as a pack for named individuals the next day, and delivering the orders taken the day before. I was handed a bundle of sim cards (that have an hour free data pre-loaded) to give out on request. Having been assigned an easy task I had a moment to take stock of all the activity.
Beside us two wonderful Belgian volunteers who’d driven over with a van full of clothes to give out. Next to them a Dutch team flipping burgers (they later told Charlie they’d made 1100!). And to their right I saw Tom from Roots manning his new shower project consisting of three cubicles rigged up with a water system heated by gas cannisters. Further round and RCK (Refugee Community Kitchen) were serving their hot food. There may have been other NGOs (Non Government Organisations) there too.
I watched quietly as the lovely Belgian ladies beside us searched their van for a warm jumper and a warm winter coat each for a little girl and her younger brother. There was such warmth and fun as the children tried on their new clothes and their mama and baba admired them and thanked the volunteers. It was a sweet scene and I was smiling to myself. It’s so hard to see the children and imagine even one week of their childhood being lived this way; and harder still to think of the Channel Crossing and what’s to come.
A man came over to me to asked for a tent. As with many people there was desperation in his voice.
He told me he needed a tent because his boat had sunk in the Channel the night before with 37 people on-board. They called the coast guard about 15 times but there was no answer. They were quite close to shore and managed to make their way to land without help. He said everyone survived but they had to sleep in the road still wet from the Channel and without any shelter. He looked defeated.
Another man told me his boat had 40 people on-board and got in trouble. He guessed they phoned the coastguard 25 times before they answered and eventually everyone was airlifted to safety.
These conversations are new. My previous times in Dunkirk someone would have told me about their family, or talked politics from their homeland. Now, all talk was of clearances and boat attempts. I won’t lie, it was difficult to see people in this situation. No one. NO ONE should be crossing the Channel on a dinghy. But it seems that most nights over a hundred people are IN the Channel, their lives seriously at risk. This isn’t “hostility”, this is much much worse. How have we created this cess pit of human suffering? This is on us and it MUST change.
As the afternoon wore on and the light faded, the tents were given out, food finished, tea urn emptied and people started drifting off to wherever they were going. Charlie started putting rubbish into bin bags and I jumped in to help. The State will take away rubbish in bags, but not rubbish just left so we cleaned what we could. Lots of the guys wanted to help us, but Charlie declined. It was hard for them to keep clean or wash; we had showers and washing machines waiting for us.
We were amongst the last to leave the site long after the sun had disappeared for the day. It was Saturday and would be my only day in Dunkirk this time but, as I left, I knew the all-to familiar cycle would continue on Monday. I found myself wondering, after the buzz of NGOs on-site today, if there would be anyone tomorrow, Sunday. Would anyone bring food?
I wondered how many more people would try to cross the Channel before Monday; and how many boats would go down. I wondered what would happen to the kids I’d seen… about how terrifying all this must be for their parents.
29/11/21: Four days’ later, on 23 November, a dinghy sank in the Channel and 27 people from the Dunkirk camp died including three children. It was devastating. The UK and French Government responded by blaming the people smugglers. They then agreed to work together to increase security and hostility on the French side. And then they started arguing with each other resulting in UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, being un-invited to EU discussions on next steps.
The UK Government says “we will consider all options”, but the unspoken end of that sentence is “to stop people coming to the UK” when it should be “including safe and legal routes”. More MPs are calling for a humanitarian visa.
Whilst the politicians in charge behave appallingly with little regard for human life and seemingly no understanding of the actual situation, people continue to suffer immeasurably. The criminal smuggler gangs continue operating and profiteering. UK and French tax payers continue funding £millions of ineffective “border security”. The dinghies continue to cross. The next tragedy waits to happen.
