Pauline and Shon’s story
When asylum seekers arrive at their dispersal accommodation or hotel in the UK, they’re given a Primark T-shirt, pyjama bottoms, and some flip flops. And that’s it. All that these often-traumatised people are entitled to when they reach this country, the fifth-richest in the world, looking for safety. Such meanness and unfairness is a big reason why I volunteer to help refugees and asylum seekers here. My name is Pauline, and through the pandemic I’ve been volunteering with Care4Calais at hotel and dispersal accommodation. The hotel I look after has around 250 people in it, many sharing rooms. Mostly …
Helping refugee children walk on air
I’ve just the most amazing day with some of the refugee children I help out with. A brilliant inflatable theme park called Inflata Nation donated a play session for our refugees, and it was incredibly uplifting to take these innocent children there, and see them smiling, laughing and playing – finally being able to do what all children should be doing! There was one little moment that stood out for me. A nine-year- ld boy who I’ve known since I started volunteering was hot after playing, and he came up to me to ask for a glass of water. …
Shock allegations about last week’s channel tragedy
The occupants of a boat that sank last week in the Channel causing the deaths of at least 27 people may have tried to contact the UK authorities. The two survivors from the incident last Wednesday claim those onboard made repeated calls to the British and French authorities as their flimsy dinghy began to sink. The group set off from the French coast near Dunkirk at about 10pm on Tuesday evening. Their dinghy ran into difficulties about three-and-a-half hours later, when its right side began to deflate. The motor then stopped working. They said that two people on the boat …
Many more refugee lives lost off the French coast
We are devastated to hear that as many as 24 more people have died attempting to cross the English Channel to the UK. According to news reports from France, at 2 o’ clock this afternoon a fisherman raised the alarm after finding bodies floating in the sea off Calais. Reports say that between five and 24 people died in the water. This horrific news comes after an autumn in which five refugee have died, and five more been lost at sea on the UK-France border. Our hearts go out to family and friends of those lost today, and indeed …
Fatemah’s family and the Polish border: update
Yesterday we received news from Fatemah and her family, Iraqi refugees stranded in Belarus who Care4Calais is helping. Although media reports suggest things are improving, the family is terrified of what might now happen to them. Their situation is extremely dangerous, and they need support. Fatemah was on the border near the Polish town of Bialowieza with with her dad and three children, but they became separated in attacks by Bielarussian border guards, as we previously reported. Fatemah is with her son and daughter, and her dad has her other son. Her husband Aras remains in Dubai. Fatemah has …
Piyaz’s story
Today I met an amazing man whose spirit and strength really inspired me. His journey had been incredibly long and hard, but in just an hour or so, he filled me with admiration for the resilience and resourcefulness he had built up during his long life as a refugee. Piyaz left his native Afghanistan in 2013, and to get to Calais, where he’s living hoping to get to the UK, he had walked most of the way. “Eight years walking. That’s being a refugee. No place to stay, and it’s hard on your body. Hard on your feet!” Even …
Paul and Chief’s story
Paul fled from Liberia to the UK in 2004, after his parents, brothers and sisters were killed in the second Liberian civil war. He had lived in London for five years, waiting on a decision on his asylum claim, when glaucoma in one eye began to damage his eyesight. Unfortunately, hospital treatments didn’t work, and then a problem with his other eye, has left him severely sight-impaired. He tries to stay active, but his eyesight is getting worse. The Home Office housed Paul in an east London hotel 14 months ago. At first he felt very depressed and isolated …
Another shocking eviction at Dunkirk
Today 300 French police brutally evicted hundreds of refugees, including many families with young children, from the camp in Dunkirk. Officers armed with riot shields surrounded the camp early on Tuesday morning. Surprised and alarmed, refugees had to pack their belongings hurriedly, fearful of tents being slashed and possessions taken. Between 1000 and 1500 people were estimated to be living in the Dunkirk camp. As we reported on Sunday, living conditions have become atrocious, with overcrowding worsening the muddy ground, and the lack of shelter exposing tents to the wind. Having endured life there, refugees were now bussed off …
Anguish on the Polish border
Fatemah and her family are Iraqi refugees, likely to be killed if they return to Iraq; to make things even worse, Fatemah herself has a medical condition requiring attention. A few weeks ago, she and her husband Aras saw an ad for package holidays to Belarus that included visas that allowed you to visit the EU; thinking they could use the visa to claim asylum in Poland, they bought places for Fatemah, their two young children, and Fatemah’s father. Her husband stayed behind in Dubai, planning to join them later. Once in Belarus, Fatemah, her dad and two children …
Refugees and volunteers together: a true community
Before the Taliban picked on him, Abas had a good, happy life in Afghanistan. In his late-twenties, he had a loving family and a good job working in international trade. Then one day, the Taliban got wind of his relationship with the West, they called him an infidel, told him he should give up his job, when he refused, they came to his house to kill him. “I had to escape through the neighbour’s house” he remembers. “I ran to the house of a family friend and with their help I managed to escape over the border to Iran” …