Day 3 - A Memory

We learn early on that throughout the previous evening groups of people had arrived at the camp.  Some being taken there by police, others just arriving from a treacherous and dangerous trip.  Yesterday we had made some good contacts that would help us on our fact-finding mission.  There were lots of tears and frustration yesterday which had been wiped out as we remembered how the men had taken care of us when we were incapacitated by the brutality of the French police.  We agree to go into camp to see how things are.

We sort out our van and headed back to the Jungle. It is a beautiful day.  All appears calmer and there is a marked reduction in the number of police overlooking the camp.  But they are present. They are always present as is the constant helicopters and light aircraft that fly overhead. 

We park up at the side of the back road into camp and are invited to sit on the embankment with some men from Sudan.  One is playing a childs electronic Bob the Builder game.  It turns out he is improving his English. We give him a pack of playing cards and it was almost like we’d given him the crown jewels – he was delighted. One of our trio sits with one young man and helps him read a childs book. His spoken English is excellent but he wants to improve his reading skills in the hope that this will improve employability if he ever realises his dream to make it to the UK.

Our men from Sudan agree to be our ‘security team’ and we start distribution.  Three volunteers from North West England arrive and help us and we chat with them about our experiences.  Like us, they are on a fact-finding mission for their local group.  Some of our volunteers at the donation drop had the excellent idea of sorting out toiletries into carrier bags which contain a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap/shower gel and shampoo.  We manage to distribute two large boxes of these. A few men immediately start to brush their teeth at the side of the road.  Everyone who receives a toiletry bag is saying thank you.

After distributing and taking time to speak to various people in the camp, we leave for a while. We know there is someone we need to meet arriving in the camp from the UK in the evening.  

On our return, two of us meet the men from Sudan and we are invited to sit with them.  We take things from the van as gifts  - we give food and other items we think may help them such as torches and a firelighting pack.  We sit in the communal cooking area and they make us sweet tea and a basic dough which is made into doughballs and we share the food from a large bowl using our fingers to eat. We sit round the camp fire getting to know each other. Meantime our other volunteer goes to meet the man that we need to meet as he may have the answers to our questions in relation what we can do to help.

As the sun sets, we laugh and joke and share stories of our culture and families. These men come from the Dinka tribe in the Sudan who are renowned for a form of dance which involves jumping.  They promise to show us tomorrow as its Eid-al-Adha.  

Despite the lack of alcohol involved and the darkness, we show them our national dances and do a Gay Gordon followed by a highland fling.  They laugh loudly when I show them the men wearing skirts dancing a Gay Gordon on You Tube.   

As we’re full from the food that we’ve shared and the sweet weak tea thats been made for us over the open fire, we all become silent. By now its completely dark.  One of the men suddenly breaks the silence and says that he misses his son. He shows us photos of him. He hasn’t seen him for many years now and believes he is in a camp in Libya. He is very sad.  We comfort him the best we can.  But no words or comfort substitutes the fact he’s living in a camp which is ripe for disease, in a place which will become very cold over the coming months, far from his family.  

I feel so grateful for everything I have. My heart breaks for him, for all of them.  How awful is this situation?  What makes things worse is that we could empty the Jungle – bring everyone into the UK.  They’d pay us back ten-fold.  And 4,000 people wouldn’t have any impact on our services throughout the UK – its half the population of Haddington. We have the ability and resources.  I never did find the answer to the question ‘why can’t we come to the UK?’ 

I feel so blessed that I was invited to spend an evening, in the most surreal circumstances, with five men from Sudan who made me laugh with them and, afterwards, cry for them in equal measures. They are an amazing group of men.  I will never forget that night and how seven people sat round a camp fire in Northern France and laughed.  We were equals that night.  

But my luck of birth to be entitled to the ‘right’ passport means that we can’t be equals because having that passport gives me rights as a human. Basic rights that people in the Jungle do not have.  

Day 4 - Meetings and Maps

I wake in an odd mood.  I think about the previous night and how special it was. We are seeing a structure forming in camp and although things are still chaotic, the volunteer that had arrived the previous night was on it – he was going to make things happen.  Again today is torrential rain.  

Our amazing ‘leader’ couldn’t sleep so had gone to the camp very early in the morning. She was the only one of us who was insured to drive the van which left two of us at the hotel.  We have some Nutella crepes then get a taxi to the Jungle. 

For the first time since we’d arrived, the entrance where the police had blocked was open and we were dropped off by the taxi driver there. We walk through the Jungle towards the volunteer area, making sure we stop at the guys who saved us from the tear gas to wave, smile, shake their hands and say thank you once more.  As we pass, we shake hands, say hello and are invited to eat with the people we pass and offered to sit with them and have some sweet tea. Unfortunately it would take us the whole day to get through the camp if we stopped so we regretfully decline the invitations.

As we near the volunteer area, we meet two women from South East England who have turned up with a car load to distribute.  We ask them to join us. We have a meeting to attend with the main activists in the camp to find out what we can do to support them. The two women, who had arrived in the jungle for the first time, were roped into assisting to sort through some items which had landed in the camp in a huge tent.

We have our meeting at one of the makeshift restaurants in the camp. We have spicy egg with bread and sweet tea.   We sit crossed legged on a raised counter with a table cloth spread out in front of us. The rain is torrential outside and the restaurant ‘owner’ tells us the sewerage smells and is running down the dirt street outside. 

The people in the camp are resourceful - they've had to be. There are makeshift restaurants and shops within the camp.  They’re very similar to the type of cafe’s and shops you find in villages in rural Africa.  The shops don’t sell much – drinks and basic food with cigarettes wrapped in tinfoil.  I’ve no doubt there is some kind of black market as I’ve read so many times but I didn’t see any evidence of this. The people in the camp have all had to show amazing strength to get where they are.  No one could experience what they have without having some form of trauma. 

We agree quite a bit at the meeting. Things are looking more and more positive. It becomes apparent that the priority is shelter – strong robust shelter that will keep people warm throughout the winter. The difficulty is that because its a temporary camp, nothing can be put into the ground. This means everything has to be freestanding.  We manage to arrange a meeting with an NGO who can assist with sanitation.  We all feel so much better about the future in the camp.

Its agreed that two of us will go round the camp to make a map and a note of what nationalities exist and where they are located. This will help new and current volunteers navigate the camp.  The main nationalities are from the Sudan, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Ethiopia and Kurdish.  There are other nationalities in there but these appear to be the main groups.  

As we make our way round, we’re invited to share food, for tea, to sit down round the open fires and in general to chat.  We shake so many hands and find the stories of so many people.  All quite tragic.  These are articulate people and would be an asset to any country which agrees to allow them to have a future.  Lots of people ask us if David Cameron will let them come to the UK.  We respond by putting our thumbs down and say its unlikely – there is no point in giving people false hope. 

One man from Syria is on crutches. He’d tried to get on the train going through the channel tunnel.  He’d fallen and broken his leg in four places. After weeks in hospital, he was sent back to the Jungle.  He spoke fluent English and wanted to come to the UK to find work.  He appears to be aware that some of the UK population do not want people from Syria to come into the country. I assure him that some may feel that way but I know many people who would welcome him with open arms. 

A man from Sudan speaks to us and asks if we’d heard about 15 year old Idi from Sudan.  Idi had attempted to get through the tunnel to the UK last night and has been killed.  What stuns me is that its almost like an acceptance that this happens.  It reinforces that the risk of death rather than staying in camp is one worth taking.  I understand that. I shouldn’t, but I do.  Human life is not paramount to people in camp – what is most important is hope and a future. When you feel you have nothing to lose, you risk everything. I return to incredulity that this is really happening in Western Europe in 2015.  It defies belief.  What an unjust and unfair society we live in. We deny people basic rights. 

We meet some women from Eritrea who chat to us. We find a helpful man from Kuwait who offers himself up as our guide and interpreter round the camp.  We see the makeshift Church, the Book Store/library, the school and the mosque.  

We meet a man we’d seen the previous day from Afghanistan. He had been cheerful but now appeared to be deflated. We ask him what is wrong. He tells us he’d tried and failed to get through the tunnel last night.  He’d had hope yesterday. Today he had nothing.

On our way back to the volunteer area, we go to see our Sudanese friends.  There is no one around.  We continue back to the van and agree we’d had a productive day.  We decide to go to a hotel and chill out this evening to give ourselves time to reflect. We also decide we would return home the next day as we are satisfied that we had a plan of action in place.  

On our way out of camp, we see one of our friends from Sudan.  We stop the van. He comes over and tells us that he is on his way to the tunnel tonight.  We beg him not to attempt it. He says he has to try.  We all cry as we hug him and shake his hand and wish him safety.  What else can we do?  We return to the hotel and do everything we can not to worry about our friends.  But always, in the background, was the hope that they would be safe no matter what the outcome.

Day 5 - leaving

Today we are leaving.  We head to the camp to the volunteer area but first, we go check on our Sudan friends. No one is around but then we see one man we don’t recognise.   A few minutes later, one of our friends appears.  He tells us all of them had tried to get through the tunnel last night.  Another of our friends comes out from his shelter and looks as if he’s been crying. He tells us he tried to jump on a train and fell. One of his hands is badly swollen, the other is cut. We ask him to go see one of the medical teams in camp but he says that it will be fine. Its obvious he is in pain.  We are relieved he is ok but concerned because we know he’ll try again.  No one should have to go to such lengths to secure a future for themselves.  Its wrong.

By now we’re running late so we quickly say goodbye to as many people as possible before we climb back in the van and head out of camp for our ferry. We head back to our ‘safe’ country with our ‘superior’ passports that allow us to travel freely throughout the world. To our double glazed, central heated houses with comfortable beds to be with our family.  To a life that has never known a fraction of the hell-on-earth that the people in the Jungle have experienced. Yet they exist in a camp, we live in our homes.

Some information you might want to read...

This is where I apologise.  I should explain this myself but linking to websites is so much easier!

First of all, this makes essential reading.

http://www.unhcr.org.uk/about-us/the-uk-and-asylum.html

It dispels a lot of myths that some of the British public and media love to complain about. 

David Camerons “kind” offer to take in 20,000 refugees from countries surrounding Syria isn’t quite what it seems.  First of all, no one in Calais, or any other country in Europe will receive any assistance to settle in the UK.  The people he has announced ‘we’ will help are those with health problems that need specialist treatment and women and children.  This means your average man fleeing from Syria won’t be entitled to this scheme.  Its a tokenistic gesture and won’t allow those fleeing horrific conditions in Sudan, Eritrea or Afghanistan come to the UK. Which will not make much difference to those who make that dangerous journey to reach safety because they will still have no other option.

I should explain a little about the Dublin Regulation.  But again. I’ll use a link to explain: http://www.ecre.org/topics/areas-of-work/protection-in-europe/10-dublin-regulation.html

I feel the need to explain the situation in the main home countries of those within the camp. But I have searched the internet for useful links that explain the situations in these countries much better than I ever could.  Please do read these as they put things into perspective.

Syria

 http://www.mercycorps.org/articles/turkey-iraq-jordan-lebanon-syria/quick-facts-what-you-need-know-about-syria-crisis

Sudan

http://www.mercycorps.org/articles/south-sudan/quick-facts-what-you-need-know-about-south-sudan-crisis

Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq

http://www.refugeeaction.org.au/?p=3061

Eritrea

http://eritreanrefugees.org/

There are many more links out there. My advice is ignore anything from the media – its usually untrue and Wikipedia isn’t too factual either.  Look at websites like the UNHCR website for statistics and information or some of the agencies who work on the ground, like Mercy Corps.  They’re the guys who are reporting what is really going on.  The media always has another agenda.

Want to help?

Priorities for the camp aren’t clothes or shoes at this precise moment. Shoes are important but the warehouses can’t distribute effectively when there are constant deliveries.  Its bottlenecked.  The priority right here, right now is building supplies.  And plumbers, builders and joiners prepared to give up their time and expertise to get to Calais to help.  The best donation right now is money.  Its costly to get items to France where the items can be purchased anyway and buying in France is more cost effective.  Money, right now, to prepare the 4000 inhabitants of the camp for a cold winter is essential. Without appropriate shelter and sanitation, they have no chance.

This is the part I ask you for money!  But if you don't have any, please skim the first part!

Even if you only have 50p to spare, it will go to good use!  The link to donate is here: http://gogetfunding.com/provide-shelters-to-migrants-in-calais/  

I'm likely to add to the funding pages as we go but at the moment, I can't think of anything more important and needed in camp than shelter for the winter.

This blog is probably not much use for anyone who has visited the camp but may help people who haven’t witnessed this ‘concentration camp’ see how difficult the conditions are and contrast this against what our media is projecting.  By all means share as much as you want to. 

If you want to physically help, there are volunteers needed for everything. From being involved in fundraising locally, to sorting out donations to being part of a team that goes to Calais to clean up rubbish.  There is even one project which assists sending SOS for boats that are sinking making the treacherous journey across the med. You can do this from your home computer anywhere in the world.  

One thing I ask is this. If you go to the Jungle, please don't go as a tourist, go to help and make sure you've made contact with someone on the ground first. There really are people out there that take the trip to Calais on some kind of warped tourism thing so they can 'take a selfie with a refugee'  I didn't believe it at first but I can confirm that its very sadly true.

If you have little time or money, education is another thing you can do. Spread the word.  Alternatively pester your local MP and MEP - except in East Lothian because ours has just been amazing about the whole situation.

If you want to get in touch, feel free - amjamwe@btopenworld.com

I suspect I'll return to Calais camp but only if I think I can contribute something worthwhile to try to improve the lives of those who live there.  If I do return, I may even subject you to another blog :)