A Lovely Cup of Cofffee with Muhammed
For more than a year, the Calais authorities have made it illegal to give food to refugees in certain areas. Even as I write that sentence, it seems unfathomable that the basic human right of access to food is made illegal to people. But Care4Calais and a few other organisations prevail, and continue to find areas where we can give out food to refugees, who are often desperately hungry. Last week, I went with a group of volunteers into the camps where refugees sleep, to give them food tickets so they could make their way to our van and …
Helping after the storm in Calais and Dunkirk
This week we’ve been so proud of our volunteers in Calais, and the work they’ve done to help refugees following the storm on Friday. We had winds of 80+ miles per hour here, which completely destroyed hundreds of refugees tents, leaving them with no shelter in the wind and rain. But as soon as the storm subsided on Saturday, we went out to help repair hundreds of tents that had been damaged, and to distribute new ones to people who needed them. We’ve now given out tents for about 800 people in Calais and Dunkirk. Finding shelter is hard enough …
A message of hope on the Channel ferry
Yesterday a wonderful, and hope-giving thing happened to me. I was on my way home to the UK after volunteering in Calais for the first time. Out on the distributions I’d been filled with admiration for the uncrushable spirit and warmth of the refugees I met, but also at time despair for what they have to go through. One day when we were giving out food packages, I met a young Sudanese guy called Adil. In almost perfect English, summed it up for me. “I’m not angry,” he said. “But I want to ask why? Why do we have to …
Beth on the energising effect of volunteering
I’m a social person, and I try to add energy to the Care4Calais warehouse – I think that’s so important for keeping people’s motivation and spirits up. Sometimes we have a lot of work to do, so I’m the one chatting and joking, keeping people focused – and cracking the whip. I’m so proud of Manchester and what its people have given. The problem is that a lot of people give a bag of stuff and think it ends there, but that’s only the beginning, there is so much more to do. I’m Beth, and I’ve been volunteering with …
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. …
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” …
Calling all vans and drivers!
** Help Needed – Please Share ** In the last few weeks people have been unbelievably generous with donations for newly arrived Afghan refugees. It’s been truly heartwarming to see. But – we now need to get all these amazing donations to where they need to be. We urgently need your help. We need VANS and DRIVERS. If you have a van, know someone who has a van, or can access a van and would be willing to help, please please get in touch now. Without your help we can’t get this essential stuff to the people who desperately …
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: How we keep people safe in Calais
We have established thorough procedures for hygiene and PPE in Calais, as this demonstration by our volunteer team shows. Our priority, at all times, is how to keep people safe. Refugees and migrants in Dunkirk and Calais are under threat from coronavirus (COVID-19) and also from lack of food. Please support our emergency appeal here. …
