Care4Calais Volunteer Community

This is the great team we currently have at Care4Calais in France, and today we want to introduce you to Pierre (pictured centre).

Pierre is notable because he is a refugee himself, having been granted asylum in Belgium after fleeing Burundi during the 2015 political crisis. He’s now working with Care4Calais on an internship in between semesters at the University of Liège, where he’s completing his Master’s degree.

Pierre came to volunteer with us because, having been granted asylum, he wanted to help others. However, we were particularly moved when we saw his reaction to the living conditions of the refugees in Calais. Pierre spent eight months in an official camp in Belgium. It was no picnic – sleeping on a gymnasium floor, thousands of miles away from family, with no comfort or privacy. But when he saw the refugees sleeping rough in Calais he was nearly in tears. He said “I had no idea they were living like this. I just want to help them. This cannot be right.”