Samaritans help Jungle refugees
TWO North Wales volunteers have spent the week helping thousands of children and adults who were left homeless after being cleared out of a refugee camp in France.
Nick Jewitt, 62, from Bangor, and Paul Smith, 70, of Llandegfan, Anglesey, had planned to distribute food and clothes to residents of the infamous Jungle camp in Calais.
But their aid mission took an unexpected turn when the French authorities moved in and began dismantling the site – forcing thousands of refugees to flee.
Freelance proofreader Nick and retired science lecturer Paul were in France representing Bangor-based humanitarian group Pobl i Bobl.
Nick said: “It was pure coincidence that when we arrived in Calais the Jungle camp was being cleared.”
After hearing of the developments, the two rushed to help a group of refugees who had set up a makeshift camp at NorrentFontes some 45 miles from Paris.
“Some of the women and children came from that camp to Calais because they heard a rumour that the UK was ‘processing’ people,” added Nick.
“They were worried about getting caught up in the clearing process.
“People in the (Norrent-Fonte) camp were mostly men, Sudanese (Darfurian), Ethiopians and Eritreans, living side by side with no difficulties.
“We travelled with a few clothing items from one of the helping groups in Calais, but the main thing was the solidarity of being there as human beings and spending time with them. They were so welcoming, and insisted we ate with them.”
He said that many volunteers had been spending their nights sleeping outside in converted shipping containers with 1,500 children from the camp.
“Some younger women struggled to get out of the Jungle under threat of being detained because they are not classified as children – we hear that the UK authorities are concentrating on the under 15s.
“Significant numbers of asylum seekers – previous Jungle residents – are likely to be entering existing and new camps in the area, some returning from Paris, where conditions are even direr than the Jungle was, and some who avoided leaving the area, still determined to reach the UK.
“I have today met adults with family in UK who have no idea how they will reach or if the UK authorities will ever consider their cases.”
Nick and Paul also spent a lot of time talking to people who wanted to practice their English.
He said: “A lot of them want to come to the UK.
“Most of them speak Arabic and some sort of English.
Before the Jungle was cleared at least 3,000 left to join other smaller camps in the region.
Over the weekend all refugees were cleared from the streets of Paris in the early hours of Saturday morning and taken to reception centres.
Nick said: “This is not a bad thing although it is likely that conditions in these places will vary greatly.
“They should have opportunity to apply for asylum in France.
“Within a few days there will be significant numbers there again as people are arriving all the time – just as they were in Calais, so the two carloads of duvets, sleeping bags and toiletries we brought will be used within days.”