Day 3 on-the-ground. We started today at the warehouse with Calais Food Collective joining co-founder Maddy’s training – sexual harassment awareness – for volunteers; that we both found helpful and enlightening. Going to things like this emphasises the need for such training and there were several times when I felt it would benefit workplaces and everyday society.
Next we headed to see Josh at the Project Play warehouse co-located with Collective Aid. And I was so delighted to find co-founder Caia was also in town so Josh’s (also thorough and very relevant) field training had to wait until we’d had a full catch up!
Alex from Collective Aid then showed us around their area of the warehouse including the tent and sleeping bag stock in place for winter thanks to the recent No Events No Tents fundraiser. Their stock is enough for 66 tents given out each week over 30 weeks from November to May, and 100 sleeping bags a week. Alex added that this is only enough for Calais, not Dunkirk, and also that full demand for Calais has yet to be met over winter as it’s so high.
This is because of the police/CRS clearances, but also because of the weather as a storm destroys these tents and winters in northern France can be harsh. Whilst they do have this stock, supplies of other critical needs like winter boots and coats are low. Given right now many people can’t even sleep in tents in Calais and actually, can’t sleep at all unharassed, these essentials will be even more critical when winter comes. I’m very aware I’m in Calais in a surprising and unusual heatwave.
We then drove on to Maison Sesame where Caroline and their current guests couldn’t have been more welcoming. For the families who come here it certainly is a few weeks’ respite from the hard slog of homelessness. And, time after time, I’m being told that there are more women and children in the makeshift camp areas than ever before. The reasons aren’t completely understood, but it does seem a few families are leaving Germany now that the five years have passed since they were granted rights back in 2015; which is actually heart-breaking that they got settled with papers and school and learned a new language, only to be on the move, homeless, stateless, once again.
After seeing around the house and chatting with lovely French owner, Sylvie, of partner organisation Emmaus, Caia, Josh and Project Play arrived. FULL respect from me for anyone working with children and the kids at Maison Sesame were pretty adorable!!!! Singing, playing and calming complete they settled in to make pizza under the gazebo ! It was awesome and the kids just loved it, two at the end using all the spare dough to make a big heart shape pizza they said was “for everyone to share” . We all got to have pizza for dinner followed by custard tart and baklava that some of the Maison residents had been busy baking !
I can’t stop reflecting on the impact the actions of our Governments and Authorities are having on all of us. “Us” being those who are just nice people who don’t want our countries to persecute asylum seekers…. It’s taking its toll. Many of the volunteers who’ve come to Calais and Dunkirk are exhausted. Not only the physical strain of providing the basic needs of life to 2000 people every single day, and on a shoe-string budget. But the emotional and mental effect of witnessing one human’s mistreatment of another. Of seeing and sometimes receiving police brutality and intimidation. And of watching kids and friends and young and old risk their lives every day to make a journey no one should ever have to make because our Government can’t be bothered setting up the services it’s international commitments require it to do. These volunteers are displaced from their own homes and families – doing all they can to show some humanity because they can’t and won’t stand by and watch. But what about them? Who’s looking after them?
These volunteers are collectively providing food, water and shelter to homeless, vulnerable people, offering protective housing to the most vulnerable, and play sessions for their kids. Maddy, Hannah, Caia, Josh, Alex, Xanthe, Caroline and so many others here are an inspiration to us all! They really are the heroes of our generation.
Please – keep supporting our work, keep an open mind about refugees, keep damning the tabloids and their hate, damning the U.K.’s hostile environment and start shouting at our politicians to be better humans…. Can you do that?
