Superstar companies donate thousands of hand sanitisers to Calais
We have the most amazing news! Last week we posted a heartrending story: an Iranian refugee asked one of our team in Calais if we could distribute hand sanitiser. “We need it,” he said. “There is sickness and we can’t wash our hands.” All she could do was hand over the one bottle she had for her personal use. The refugees don’t have access to running water to wash their hands, but with prices so high we can’t afford to buy sufficient quantities to distribute – it’s heartbreaking. Since then something wonderful has happened. THREE separate companies saw our post …
Volunteers left helpless as refugees yearn for the basics
Today a quiet Iranian man approached me. He asked if we could distribute hand sanitiser. I sighed thinking of the evenings spent writing to companies begging for donations of sanitiser, but had to explain that we don’t have enough. It’s just too expensive to buy right now. He innocently said: “But we need it – there is sickness and we can’t wash our hands.” I felt so guilty because I was wearing gloves and would be washing my hands many times that day. The inequality was a gulf between us. ‘Helpless’ is an understatement for how I feel right now. …
‘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 …
WATCH: Our volunteers and handwashing station on national TV
April 6, 2020 – clip from France 2 national news featuring Care4Calais. In French. Features Care4Calais volunteers and mitigation procedures. …
Migrant evictions – March update
Nothing happened overnight. It was tense but quiet. We have heard from a journalist that the French Embassy says that something is in progress to put migrants in containment centres, but they are not ready yet. The prefecture in Dunkirk is tweeting that the migrants are going to go into centres, but that it will be voluntarily. It could be an excuse. If the migrants move voluntarily and the authorities then cut down on food and stop showers they can’t be criticised, or if it’s voluntary and the refugees don’t go, the authorities can say: “No-one can say we are …
