Lottsathoughts

My short stay in Calais is almost done. Another back-breaking day helping to clear up the yard ready for a big delivery. It's been enlightening but far too brief to understand everything but here's a few salient points. The Jungle DOES still exist in Calais - our press may have given the impression that it has gone but it hasn't (the officials moved it out of sight though). It's currently home to over 5,000 refugees with c50 more arriving every day. There are steel fences and patrols of policeman in riot-gear everywhere. Yesterday saw the use of tear gas in the camp which disrupted aid-distribution and caused stress for residents.  At the last census c120 children had gone missing, presumed to traffickers who are rife. The only refugees I met were charming and friendly with stories of escape from fighting, Taliban and dictators. Many are highly educated and well-qualified - doctors, teachers etc. Some have almost no English.  The big aid organi...

I'm in Calais this week, to volunteer at the refugee camp. I've never been before and I don't directly know anyone else who has, so I'm really not sure what to expect. I'm apprehensive, but it feels too important to me not to be here, albeit a fleeting visit. Everything I've read about it appalls me on a humanitarian level.  It's grey here but not raining! Hurrah! Really strange journey from the Eurostar station (Calais Frethun) into the town centre, through countryside liberally bisected with enormous steel fences. Turns out these are here to prevent easy movement by refugees – I gather the British tax-payer has funded these, to a considerable degree.  I met and shared a taxi with another volunteer who is returning for repeat visit. He went straight to the kitchen to help prepare the 3,000 – 4,000 hot meals that are sent out every single day. Apparently 3 or 4 chefs (of whom he is 1) will manage this with the help of unskilled volunteers like me...