4 August 2020

Food Distribution with Calais Food Collective

Hannah took us on distribution in the evening. There are now seven distribution sites in and around Calais since last weeks’ police/CRS so-called clearances. A horrible process whereby people’s belongings are ripped from them, their tents put in landfill and they’re forcibly moved on…. to nowhere. And then moved on again. And again. And so now smaller groups, who are much more difficult for volunteers to support, are scattered mostly by nationality, across many sites in Calais. Police/CRS efforts have made refugees more visible than ever before and, in peak tourist season, I have to wonder what their motive is and if it’s working?

One of the many things I love about Calais Food Collective and Refugee Community Kitchen is their shared ethos that people can have as much or as little as they want – food and water. When we ran out of food we headed back to the warehouse for more before driving back to the distro point to give it out.

People only took what they needed for themselves and friends/family. They tidied up all the rubbish in the black bin bags Hannah brought along. They were lovely and, as always, I was staggered by how humble and appreciative someone can be in these living conditions.

And, when we finished, Utopia 56 were out on night shift marauding (I had to ask what it meant and, in this case, it means going out looking for people with specific needs and helping them. They take more food and water and tea along with them too just in case.)

I can’t help but see the faces of now good friends – and my kids – that I’ve met during the last 4 years in every face in tonight’s line. These are just people who want to have a chance at having a decent life, that’s all. Why wouldn’t we help them when we so easily can? There are only about 1000 refugees in Calais and another 400 or so in Dunkirk. How easy would it be for the U.K. – with a population of 65 million, to absorb these people, and more? Instead £millions are spent doing everything in our power to keep 1400 people out of the U.K.. Don’t you think those £millions could be so much better spent?

So please keep having an open mind, ignoring the tabloids, and supporting all our efforts at Donate4Refugees, Calais Food Collective and Refugee Community Kitchen

Because I can’t post pics of the people we help, here’s a picture of our distro team instead.

5 August 2020

Building Relationships with Project Play, Collective Aid & Maison Sesame

We started today at the warehouse with Calais Food Collective joining 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 Caia 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 heartbreaking 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 backlava 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?

6 August 2020

Dunkirk Distribution with Mobile Refugee Support

There was a little girl in an impractical bright pink dress cuddled up on her baba’s lap. She looked so tired. He was sitting on the ground, on a low kerb, there wasn’t anywhere else. She pulled off her little socks and they both looked closely at something on her foot that was bothering her.

This was just one moment of many today with the community we met, chatted to and did our best to help whilst out with Jed, Caitlin and Abdullah of Mobile Refugee Support today.

As well as their phone charging and WiFi provision, MRS are using a specially set up Facebook Group and Messenger to connect and communicate with the refugee population of Dunkirk. Individual needs are messaged and ‘orders’ filled to the best of the teams’ ability. Today included sleeping bags, shoes, some clothes, backpacks, tarps, socks, phone cards and more. Anything needed and not in the van today will be brought on Sunday.

About 400+ people are now spread over three sites in Dunkirk. There have been police clearances here too and the police/CRS took everything from everyone (again) in the last week . The police come with buses to take people to reception centres, but the centres are notoriously awful and also inland and so only very few families go. Once there they can apply for asylum in France but the fear is (and I’m sure it’s true) that most will have their claims rejected and so they’ll end up deported – possibly back to Italy or wherever they entered Europe. If that happens they’ll just cross back into France again… which leads us back to the same question. WHY?

In a mainly Kurdish community, there is one very tall, very happy, very lovable and popular African man! How awesome!

Another man with four children, three young boys and a toddler daughter being carried around by her middle brother! I didn’t see mama, but dad asked me about a doctor as she was sick. There are an alarming number of women and children here. There was a little bike being shared and it was the only toy I saw.

The site is wasteland below a motorway and next to a live railway line. It’s hidden out of sight of locals and tourists and maybe 100-150 people are calling it home. One man on crutches, one man quite old, and far far too many children. I remember walking this way to La Linear Camp 2.5 years ago when Dunkirk still had an official camp. Now the footpath under the motorway IS the camp.

I’ve hardly seen any CRS and I wonder if it’s because of France’s usual August shutdown. Maybe August will have respite from the usual CRS intimidation?

Whilst we were at the site Lucy, Ellie and friends from RCK arrived with hot food and sweet tea, Rory and friends from Calais Food Collective with the cold/dry food distro and, as we were leaving, Utopia 56 with water. MRS and Roots still have containers collocated with the Care 4 Calais warehouse and their team was also headed for Dunkirk today. They were at a site known as the Playground but I’m not sure what their distro was today. Maybe hygiene packs?

“Refugees”… each refugee is a real person with a unique personality, hopes and dreams. They have people who love them and family who depend on them, just like you and I. So please keep showing solidarity with refugees and keep supporting our work to help them. Ignore the tabloids and the hater voices out there and let empathy and compassion win you over!

7 August 2020

Food Distribution with Calais Food Collective

We like to think of Donate4Refugees and our partners on-the-ground as a loving, supportive family . And this week we shared a big group hug with our northern France family! A family of volunteers who are together keeping 1500-2000+ of the world’s most vulnerable people alive and with hope.

Calais Food Collective was born of the Coronavirus Crisis; the team forming, adapting and responding to a constantly changing situation. On Friday we joined them for a ‘day in the life’ starting at 10am and finally crawling home about 11pm. San and I are out of practice with hard physical work, being softie city people normally , as well as 20 years’ older than most of the volunteers here! We know a hard days’ graft when we see one.

Preparing for a distribution includes boiling 3000 eggs, ordering fresh food, ensuring enough of everything so it doesn’t run out before everyone who needs feed, has food.

Sorting includes things like turning 130 boxes of dates into individual bags of 10 dates (until there are at least 1200 portions) and splitting bunches of bananas into single bananas.

Portioning includes receiving 400 baguettes and breaking each into three and dividing hard boiled eggs into 2 per bag.

On Friday we were part of a small team making up 1200 portions for refugees in Calais of –

• 3 tins tuna
• cereal bar
• banana
• 10 dates
• bread
• 2 eggs
• small bottle of water

I was impressed at the thoughtfulness of the pack which, whilst small for the only meal of the day for a grown man, I thought was still filling, full of good stuff and energy-giving. It’s also affordable for a grassroots charity to give in bulk, manageable to pack 1200 portions in a day and not too heavy for loading.
After spending the day preparing individual portions, it was time for distribution.

Maddy, Rosie & I

Hannah, Alex & San

Loading the vans involves estimating numbers at the target distribution sites each van is going to. It was hot so also piling in 6 packs x 1.5 litre bottles of water to make sure everyone had enough. Food is heavy! By the time 10 bags/portions are in a box the box is heavy and loading from warehouse to trolley, trolley to van in 30+ degree heat was sweaty and tiring work.

Distributions are done well into the evening as it’s when people will be at the locations we give food. It has to be the same time-ish every day as routine is important and so is dependability. Trust is built by being reliable and keeping your promises.

My team set off for the train station and, as soon as we pulled in, a long polite queue formed. They can ask for as many portions as they want for themselves and friends and, because there were a lot of people there, unfortunately we ran out before everyone got . This is where built trust is important. When it’s your only food that day and others have got and you haven’t… how does that make you feel? When you know some people have taken three portions for themselves and you have none? When the people with food say they’ll be back with more, do you trust them?

When we told these guys there was no more food but we’d be back, disappointment, panic even, flashed in their eyes. They crowded round to get water at least, to have an egg pack (all we had left) to keep them going until we came back. Then they moved back calmly and sat on the fence smiling and joking again and waiting for us to come back. Which we did. Trust.

However, the extra numbers at the station made us a bit late for the next site and meant we were short there too. Another long, polite line formed and it was so long we considered rationing people to one or two bags each fairly early on. But it’s just not right unless we absolutely have to, so Maddy took the decision to stay with their ethos and give as many portions as people asked for. When we ran out we had to come back there too. Trust. Our friends in helped us out by bringing more supplies from the warehouse and we swapped vans in a covert car park operation and then we went back to finish our distribution, by now in the dark.

It was late when we got back to the warehouse and finished for the day. We were hot and smelly and tired and hungry.

But it’s a strange feeling knowing that more than 1000 people ate their only meal for 24 hours only because of the efforts of our small team that day.

1000 unwanted, forgotten, hidden-from-the world, dehumanised people.

1000 polite, line-forming, friendly, humorous, patient, litter collecting, appreciative people.

San and I came home on Saturday and got to the warehouse about lunchtime, now only as visitors saying goodbye and not volunteers any more. Maddy, Rosie, Alex and Hannah were back at the warehouse for a meeting from 9.30am. They’d emptied our van from the night before, packed up more water and more food and were heading out to Dunkirk by lunchtime. The music was back on, singing at the top of their lungs again, ready to start a new day. On Friday night a few of the guys had asked for milk, and there it was on the van the very next day.

Kudos for our family? Yeah – in spades.

Not all heroes wear capes.