Music to feel free
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain”-Robert Nesta Marley
A saying that I’ve loved for a long time and a saying that was profound today.
We went to a day centre in Calais today, a place where young men can relax and be away from harm. Normally we play games, football, basketball and other sports.
Today was different, we had a guy over that brought with him some musical equipment so many of the men we met were interacting, playing the keyboard, guitars, drums and xylophone. It gave them the opportunity to laugh, smile and be free.
Be free… something they’re unable to do in their home countries, a reason they’re fleeing. One man told me that he couldn’t be free, he said that people would shoot you. His English was broken and made a gun sign with his hand.
These young men are truly fantastic but this is the last time I’ll be at this centre until I return to Calais again. I’m so glad I’ve got to experience their happiness, even if it was just for a few moments. Watching these men walk down the road back to their camps, sheltering from the rain really hit me.
Will I see them again? Will they still be in Calais when I’m back? Will they have made it to the UK? Will they have been deported back to their home countries? Will they still be alive?
So many questions they face everyday, questions that run through my mind constantly when I return home. I just hope they’re ok, I hope they’re safe and I hope they get to laugh again… be free.
Recent posts
