Workers in the Calais Jungle find threads of common humanity
Young Welsh volunteers have taken their skills to the refugee camps in Calais to help others less fortunate, and enjoy huge rewards. Aamir Mohammed reports...
AGROUP of students from south Wales have spoken about their experiences of volunteering for a charity in Calais which repairs tents and makes clothes for refugees.
Sophie Congdon, 21, from Cardiff, volunteers with a charity called SewHo which repairs clothes and provides humanitarian aid to refugees across the world.
The charity says there are about 1,500 refugees living in desperate conditions in northern France and nearly 200 are unaccompanied children.
Sophie’s mum is an ESOL teacher and teaches English to asylum-seekers. The stories of these people have motivated Sophie to take action of her own.
“I have come across some incredible stories of these amazing people overcoming obstacle after obstacle seeking safety and security.
“I was keen then to get my hands dirty so I looked up refugee charities and found Help Refugees and signed up,” she said.
“Life for the guys in the camps is tough. We don’t want to waste any donations of especially tents, sleeping-bags etc and Sew-Ho is where donations go to get repaired so they are suitable for distribution.
“We also upcycle unusable tents into drawstring bags to make it easier for people in the camps to collect their belongings in the case of a clearance.
“We also tailor jeans to make narrower waistbands to fit the men’s more slender build and we turn wide-leg jeans into skinny jeans.”
Volunteers say there have been many clearances lately. This is when police cordon off areas of the camp, moving people on and confiscating items.
Sophie says these clearances cause “rising tensions and frustrations” between communities in the camps as the situation gets more desperate.
The University of Hertfordshire student added: “I feel as if it has cured me of volunteer arrogance.
“When you are in a position of stability and working with people who aee vulnerable there is a power dynamic which makes it very easy to give rise to an ‘us and them’ perception.
“Being out in the field and talking to the guys, getting to know their style preference or kicking a ball around with them (we even taught them a bit of rugby) makes you realise that these are not refugees, they are normal people.
“They are all incredible people who have been so resilient against adversity that I couldn’t even imagine.
“I have been well and truly humbled by the experience and it is an honour to be able to help them in any way I can, whether with a needle and thread or a cup of tea.”
Ned Cosgrove, 22, from Swansea, learned about the situation in Calais through a fellow student and was encouraged to visit the camp.
He said: “It’s taken me a while to get used to the camps, especially with some of the refugees who are of a similar age.
“However, after the ice is broken, I’m always astonished to see the kindness and generosity of those who have little to give, sharing their tea and offering snacks that they’ve bought with cash which is pretty much non-existent.
“We’re now heading towards winter and the donations for those most in need are dwindling, as are the number of incredible people I am working with, since university starts in less than a month’s time.
“If anyone has some spare time or has found themselves in the same position after university as me, confused as to what to do next, then volunteering and raising donations could give a welcome change of perspective to an ongoing crisis.”
Rachel Davis, 23, volunteered in Calais for a week but instantly knew she had to return. She says she dedicated her time to research where her help was most needed.
“People think the problem stopped when the Jungle was evicted but it didn’t, it just changed it.
“Now instead of a place where they at least had shelter and a place to stay with a roof over their heads that stayed relatively stable, they face eviction every other day,” she said.
“What our organisations provide is a semblance of stability. As a volunteer, the work I did was provide basic needs.
“They do not have shelter so we fix and provide tents, there is no Wi-Fi so we provide that so they can get information, and contact their families.
“We are a small group of people doing the work of two governments. There needs to be change. They need to stop the violence and harassment against the refugees and volunteers.
“They need to stop the evictions which happen daily at various sites in Calais and other parts of France’s northern coast.
“There are so many things that need to happen, and our work can only help so much if people do not know and do not take action to change the way things are run.”
I have been well and truly humbled by the experience. It’s an honour to be able to help SOPHIE CONGDON