‘Moments like these show how vital this work is’
Yesterday we were distributing food packs at a settlement where many Kurdish people stay. They come from Iraq, Iran, Syria, or Turkey. The food packs include dates (for Ramadan), halal chicken, tuna, vegetables, fruit, rice, oil, milk and tea. So similar to an ordinary grocery shop.
When one of the refugees had collected his pack, he walked back along the line to show his friends who were queuing near to me. They opened the blue bag containing the items and rummaged through it, eager to see what was inside. I wondered what it was so interesting about basic groceries.
I approached and asked, “Is it ok?”
In that moment I realised my naivety. The man closest to me looked up with a beaming smile spread wide across the breadth of his face and said, “Yes. Yes this is very, very good. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
He probably would have shaken my hand if we weren’t practising social distancing. The rest of the group all looked up and shared their appreciation through smiles and thanks. Every one of them received his or her pack from the back of the Care4Calais van.
It’s moments like these that show how difficult it is to understand the suffering of the people we’re working with in Calais. It’s moments like these that show how vital the work we are doing here is. It’s far from a solution and far from perfect, but I dare not imagine what their lives would be like if it wasn’t for organisations like Care4Calais still out here helping on the ground.
A food pack that will feed a group of four for three days costs just £10. Please make sure we can continue this vital work. Click here to help.
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