Refugees are not a threat; they’re asking for help
When police vans turned up at a food distribution yesterday morning, people immediately scattered in every direction. It was horrible to see how frightened and scared they are after so many weeks of tough police action in Calais. The mood here is as bad as anything we’ve seen since 2016. Levels of desperation are high. Police have been coming in nearly every day to move people on. They don’t let them sleep anywhere. Even tiny bits of shrubland and waste ground have been fenced off. We’ve spotted people, including children, sleeping in hedges because they have nowhere else to go. …
Penniless Sudanese boy proves honesty always prevails
Today a young Sudanese boy I know well came and gave me this purse. He said he found it in the street and asked could I return it to the owner. There was €35 inside. A few days ago the same boy told me that the last time he spoke to his mother in Sudan was two months ago when a kind French person gave him €20. He used it to buy phone credit. This child has nothing. He is penniless but honest and good. He sleeps outside under a hedge near to a petrol station in Calais and gets …
Daily Mirror speaks to teenage refugees in Calais
The Daily Mirror recently spoke to long-time Care4Calais supporter Lord Dubs and a few of the refugees currently trapped in Calais to find out more about the situation on the ground. You can read the article in full by clicking here, but here are some excerpts from their conversations with teenagers Ahmed, Helo, and Mohammed. Ahmed, 16 Teenager Ahmed fled Afghanistan last year aged 15 after his whole family was shot dead by the Taliban. He was playing cricket when the horror happened. The extremists carried out the massacre because his dad, a government official, had refused to join them. …
‘I loved seeing them behave like normal kids should’
Today I met two Afghan boys, both aged 16. One of them has a brother in the UK, but he’s still going through the asylum process so can’t yet make a claim for his younger brother to join him. The other one has an uncle in the UK and they’ve already made a claim for the boy to join him, but the Home Office has rejected it because he’s a half-nephew – his father was his uncle’s step-brother. The Home Office says it’s not a close enough relationship. But the uncle is the only living relative the boy has left. …
Hunger tightens as government pulls out of food supply
The last round of evictions brought more than heartache for the refugees here in Calais. It also brought hunger. Food and cooking equipment was taken away, and communities were scattered, leaving people to fend for themselves. People took shelter where they could, sometimes long distances from distribution sites. This morning, the government food organisation pulled out, citing tensions between refugees as the reason for withdrawal. The result is that people are more desperate for food, meaning we’re working even harder to distribute supplies. Today, we gave out 57 food packs, which will feed over 200 people this weekend. We’re seeing …
Volunteers and refugees team up for large litter pick-up
Today’s distribution was a little different. After handing out food packs and offering services to refugees, we started a litter pick of the area. Something we often do. But it turned out to be rewarding and fun as many refugees came to join in, and it was a great opportunity to carry on our conversations from earlier that day. Because of tough police action in recent days people have been on the move and this was a new site. However it was nice to see the guys not caring if it was ‘our/their’ litter or stuff that might have already accumulated …
Veteran volunteer converts garage into charging station
It all started 21 years ago at the Sangatte centre. I was an active member of the Church community, where Sister Véronique trained me to help with local baptisms. She took me to help at the Sangatte migrant and refugee centre and I was immediately struck by a desire to help the camp and its residents. I went to the camp every Wednesday with my two young daughters, to support and spend time with the families there. Following closure of the camp in the early 2000s I continued to help the refugees, alongside my day job and with others from my …
Meet Wayne, new football hero for Manchester refugees
A few weeks ago I got a message from Care4Calais asking if I could help a young lad from Sudan who had spent months in Calais and was finally in the UK. He had been placed a hotel in Manchester by the Home Office but, although this might sound good, there have been various issues at many of these hotels. The Home Office have been using hotels due to accommodation shortages under Covid. However, as food is provided by the hotels, the refugees are given no living allowance and have no money at all to buy basics such as toiletries, clothes, …
Refugees lose blankets and tents in latest police raids
Today I met a man in Calais whose tent and blankets had been taken away by police. The nights here have been cold lately, and I couldn’t believe he’d lost the only things keeping him safe from the rain at night. He said police had been visiting their campsite every other day to confiscate their already scarce belongings. Because of the latest raid, him and four of his friends have had to huddle up together inside a two-person tent, sleeping tightly packed inside in an effort to keep each other warm. He also had a sprained ankle and a bruised shoulder. …
What do children’s life jackets remind you of?
During one of our distributions at Dunkirk, I met a man who confided in me that he was planning on crossing the Channel in a couple of days. He’d made all the necessary preparations. This included buying three little life jackets for his young children, who were busy playing football and blowing soap bubbles a few feet away from us. My heart broke at the thought of it. Child-sized life jackets. The kind you’d only need when your kid is learning to swim, or maybe during a boat trip somewhere nice with your family. The kind my mum put on me …
