Meet Simon, teacher and long-time volunteer

‘I have become used over the years to doing distributions at the many sites in and around Calais, that Care4Calais serves so well. I have also been on distributions at the various sites in Brussels and Dunkirk, and many points in between. I didn’t expect to be doing identical distributions just two miles from my doorstep in Canning Town.

Last week, Care4Calais in East London provided clothes, hygiene products and toys to around 120 refugees who are staying in hotels in Newham. Their nationalities were representative of the trouble spots in the world today: Honduras, El Salvador, Sudan, Palestine, Afghanistan, Syria and Gambia. In the morning, we gave donations to women and their children and in the afternoon, to men. We got contact names and numbers from all those who attended, and gave advice about legal representation and registering with a doctor and for schools in the area.

One of my concerns as a teacher is that whilst with schools closed it is still possible to register children in the education system, we are struggling to engage and equip children who we have on roll. It is going to be hard for schools to reach refugee children who have been placed in the area by the Home Office, without the knowledge of the local authorities, and without additional funding to get these children the resources for online learning. There have also been huge cuts to provision for English as an additional language over recent years.’ – Simon, Care4Calais volunteer

If you’d like to get involved with supporting asylum seekers in the U.K. – and especially with helping to teach English – we have lots of resources on our website! ➡️ https://care4calais.org/…/supporting-refugees-in-the-uk/

To join one of our local teams, email [email protected].