What food donations do for Calais refugees
Today in Calais I met a refugee who’d just been through a terrifying and harrowing ordeal. His face was very badly sunburned, he was stiff and limping, and he seemed exhausted. He told me that the day before he’d tried to cross the channel in a small boat with some other people. Out at sea he had called the UK coastguard, but they had not sent anyone to help them. In the end they had drifted for seven hours before making it back to France. The poor man – he looked about 30, and I’ll him Asem – asked me …
Sharing solidarity, friendship and flatbreads in Leeds
We had the loveliest time at our distribution in Leeds this weekend, with so much going on! It was great to see the lads from the nearby hotel. Many of them have been there at least a year, and they’ve all recently endured racist abuse from far right groups. However, they do tell us that our friendly and consistent presence goes a long way to making them feel safe. This weekend we were giving out clothes – the t-shirts were very popular because it’s been so sunny in Yorkshire lately. But also the great thing about the brilliant space that …
Meet Pavel and Monir, our farmer-refugees
The Sutton Community Farm in south London is incredibly kind to the refugees we support, donating baskets of delicious fresh fruit and vegetables for us to distribute in hotels. This is great as there is often a shortage of wholesome fresh food provided. Sometimes refugees go down to the farm with Seema, our South West London volunteer, to help carry the baskets of goods. The farm volunteers are so friendly, and at the weekend one of them, Sonia, noticed that Pavel and Monir were interested in the work that was going on. She downed tools to give them a guided …
Meet Mohammed, who is building a new life
Mohammed is a gently-spoken new dad, who dreams of opening his own hairdressing salon. The 24-year-old left Iraq just over two years ago, when his village was destroyed by war. He and his entire family – his parents and eight brothers and sisters – headed for Turkey, but the others were caught and deported back to Iraq. Mohammed carried on alone. “I’m from a village, between Mosul and Erbil. Our village was totally destroyed to the ground because they say it’s a war place. “That time when my family was arrested, that was the worst time in my life. I …
Watch: A morning in the life of our team
We nailed it this morning! 50 family food packs made up by 11am. Our amazing team in Calais are working super hard to keep people fed. Let’s see what tomorrow brings! Please support our urgent appeal to see people through this terrible time. …
Covid-19 survey: Food and shelter fears worse than ever
Over the last two weeks we surveyed 150 refugees across Calais and Dunkirk to gather data on the impacts of Covid-19. We want to assess both our own response and most-needed actions. The results are interesting. Almost half (48%) of those we talked to have only been in Calais for three months or less. This is a reminder of how transitory the population is – particularly given that for the last month there have been rigid travel restrictions in France and the rate of new arrivals has dropped. Only 14 people told us that Coronavirus was a primary concern for …
‘This has changed me’: Outgoing volunteer shares her story
Heidi has been with us in Calais for just over two weeks. The theatre-maker from Liverpool was among the first group of workers in the UK to have their work closed last month and she decided to go to Calais immediately. Before she left, she told us about her experience. “I work in the Everyman and the Philharmonic theatres in Liverpool, and they had to close because of the rule about mass gatherings. “I was planning to come out anyway. I’d booked a week, and then all this stuff kicked off, and my job closed, and I thought I can …
Man badly burnt by French police CS gas attack
I’ve seen a lot in in Calais over the last four and a half years, but yesterday something happened that took me back to the worst of 2015/16. As many services have shut down, we often get asked to take people to hospital. It’s hard as we are a small team and busy, but had to help a young man who had been sprayed in the face with CS gas by the police. This has become common in Calais, but as I got closer I could see, rather than the red eyes and puffy face I expected, serious burns covering …
Emergency appeal for Calais – please share
This is today’s shopping list. Each week, to feed every site in Calais and Dunkirk, we need to make 330 food parcels at a cost of approximately €4,450. This is incredibly hard to sustain, but right now we have no choice. We can no longer buy in bulk from the UK and we are clearing shelves at three Lidls in Calais every other day. Our volunteers are working long hours to make up hundreds of nutritious packs each morning. Refugees and migrants in Dunkirk and Calais are under threat from coronavirus (COVID-19) and also from lack of food. Please support …
Volunteer Charlotte finds hope and humanity in Calais crisis
Charlotte is one of the amazing team of volunteers still working hard at the forefront of Care4Calais’ work in northern France and Belgium. The 22-year-old from Barnsley brings huge passion and dynamism to the work. She said: “One of the biggest benefits of Care4Calais staying here is providing a sense of hope. If I was in the refugees’ situation, with no help, I would have completely lost hope. These are times when we’re supposed to rely on humanity. If you are going through a crisis and there is no-one there to help at that point – when can you rely …