Meet Seema, superhero volunteer!
“I don’t think about problems any more, I think about telling people about the challenge so they can come forward to help. They always will, because people are brilliant, and they want to help others! “That’s what I’ve learned volunteering with Care4Calais – every single time there’s been a crisis, people have been amazingly kind, and that kindness has spread. So I don’t just have faith in the good side of human nature – I am absolutely astounded by its power!” This amazing, inspirational and incredibly energetic woman is Seema, our lead volunteer in South West London. As well as …
Meet Katie, our Yorkshire force of nature!
“The word I’d most associate with supporting refugees is joy. Yes, joy! “Because you see joy on the faces of people when you make them feel safe and wanted, and you feel joy at being part of a team doing good things. That’s why our Care4Calais team celebrates when things go right, and if people are hostile to us and refugees, well, when they go low, we go high. “If the far right are doing hateful things in our area, we say RIGHT! Let’s have some picnics! Let’s throw a party! Let’s do things that are filled with love! “You …
Aiden of the Care4Calais Access Team
In February 2020, I did something that changed my life. I’d volunteered with Care4Calais in Calais, and back in the UK I found myself supporting a Kurdish refugee who was having a rough time. The Home Office had said he was over 18 years old when this was not true, and there was no way for him to appeal. I knew this was wrong, so I helped him to find a lawyer and go through the tortuous process of claiming asylum. It took a year, but we got his claim heard – and at last he was granted asylum. It …
Tristan
As I’m a straight, young, white male a lot of my clients are cautious about opening up to me at first. My demographic is the most privileged on earth, and they wonder why I help them. But I’ve become a bit of a go-to man for the Care4Calais Access Team when it comes to LGBTQ clients. It helps that I have the best interpreter ever, who puts everyone at ease. I have clients from all over the world. So many places are still unsafe for any LGBTQ people, but although this is well documented it’s still so very hard …
Volunteer stories: Katie
My name is Katie , and I’ve just taken a couple of days off work to help in the Care4Calais Manchester warehouse after seeing their Facebook post about needing support. I’m an occupational therapist at a hospital here in Manchester, and I’ve worked with many soldiers who’ve been injured in Afghanistan. That makes this a subject close to my heart, and I feel a real emotional connection to the crisis. I’ve also been a part of the mental health team supporting veterans. Many of the soldiers I help have teammates in Afghanistan as well as close friends they made on …
Volunteer stories: Katie
I’m passionate about helping people. I always have been. I believe that every person has a right to safety, and I find helping people is rewarding in itself. Once I started to help with refugees in Calais, I got caught up in it and now I find that it’s impossible to give up. I’ve been to Calais many times in the last few years and when the pandemic started, I wanted to continue helping Care4Calais here in the UK. I’d no idea you could help here, but it was easy to sign up and get started. I’ve volunteering for about …
Volunteer Stories: Our female powered admin team
A little known secret about Care4Calais is the incredible work done by this group of fantastic women. They are our behind-the-scenes superheroes – better known as the Admin Team. Right now, Care4Calais gets between 400 and 1000 emails a week – every week. From new volunteers to organisations like the Red Cross asking if we can help, there’s a huge range of requests to deal with every single day. Meeting all the demands takes tons of energy, organisation and quick thinking, plus a super-detailed knowledge of everything Care4Calais does in the UK and France – which is a lot. There …
Meet the volunteers: Charlotte’s story
“I met Ibrahim at a distribution we did in one of the hotels in London. When he saw me his face just lit up, and his whole body breathed out with relief. I was confused because I was sure I’d never met him before, “You’re here too” he said, pointing at my Care4Calais lanyard”. It turned out he knew C4C from Calais where we had helped him. He said, “It will be OK now, you’re here and I will get help, thank you”. Care4Calais has some amazing volunteers, and it would be impossible to pick the best, but Charlotte …
Volunteering with the Access Team: Rebecca’s story
I never expected that I would make friends for life. I never thought I’d learn how to say goodnight in nine languages or be able to memorise the Arabic alphabet off by heart. There are moments of sadness when I hear my friends tell stories of their lives, what they have faced in order to find safety. I am motivated to continue this work because every single day I am reminded of the horrors faced by someone I would never have known existed. I have supported and prepared individuals for their substantive interview, register to college, have access …
Volunteers like Tia will get us through this crisis
This is Tia. Tia is just 18 years old and, despite her understated style, Tia is one of the most confident and capable volunteers I have ever met. In her time with Care4Calais, Tia has mastered fixing refugees bikes, running (and starting) our generators – even the big one (!) – carrying out vehicle maintenance checks and, unexpectedly, fixing hair clippers. And just by-the-by she is fluent in French. However the true strength of Tia is her amazing attitude. When I asked her how she felt about Covid-19 being in the camps this is what she said: “There are other places …
