More, Our incredible partners support over 1,500 people in Calais & Dunkirk. There is a frustrating apathy and lack of awareness in the UK, which together we can turn into curiosity and a galvanised force for change. Your email address will not be published. I worked for four days in the warehouse, sorting through clothes, ensuring they were clearly organised, labelled and ready to be sent to where they’re needed most. If you have any time to do so, I wholeheartedly recommend volunteering, whether you have a day, a week or longer. That it is not ok to be a refugee, that it is a bad thing to seek safety and security for you and your family. But he shouldn’t be. There are multiple ways that you can get involved with our organization: This being said, volunteers are innovative and not at all wasteful. Volunteers and refugees alike work incredibly hard to make a dent clearing the waste on Saturday, side by side, united together. Keep your eye out for things like the Borderline play recently shown at the Cockpit theatre in London; events like Help Refugees’ ‘Choose Love’, which involved some great nights of live music in London; and other creative events across the country. Volunteer The organisations working in Calais are always keen for volunteers, especially in the wintertime where numbers dwindle, and need is highest. You can still help by donating good. Zimbabwe. Due to the ever-changing situation on the ground, and the overwhelming interest in volunteering, Indigo Volunteers are taking a step back to reassess the volunteer needs on the ground and therefore will not be accepting applications form fro one week. Of course, being there gave me a further understanding of the harsh reality of this crisis. But I think that maybe, they are discriminated against, or not treated well, because of where they have come from or because they are refugees.”. My experience was one of community, positivity, support, strength and spirit. And finally, nothing with any flags or countries printed on. AirBnB accommodation (from approx. Does it mean you don’t have the same rights, or aren’t treated the same as everybody else?” I asked him, “What do you think the answer is, or should be?”, “I think, the answer should be that refugees have the same rights and are treated the same as everyone else. Organisations on the ground in Calais are desperate for volunteers to help carry out a variety of roles. Volunteer at Imad’s Syrian Kitchen x Choose Love. In the USA, Choose Love, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization, and gifts are tax-deductible as allowed by law. One of the charities, Help Refugees, has been operating in Calais since September 2015 and has a warehouse based there. Portugal. I met some really interesting people and it really opened my eyes to the situation on the other side of the Channel.”, Can’t volunteer? Items of clothing that are impractical for a refugee camp, that are not needed (there is a huge abundance of men’s large jumpers, and not a particularly high demand for this size), and items that are perhaps worth a lot of money and could cause other difficulties (who gets the designer leather jacket and who gets the other one? Take some time to find out more about what is going on: all the organisations mentioned above post regular updates on social media and their websites. N, 14 “As a young mixed-race girl growing up in the UK… I believe that it is important that we recognise that […]. Each purchase comes with a beautiful, easy to share e-card. Everything on the menu is a dish his mother cooked in Syria. The refugees haven’t been given the equipment they need – the mayor in Calais has given the camp just TWO skips for rubbish, which is ridiculous. Get involved with campaigns and marches; put pressure on the government by writing to your MP about the crisis, letting them know your views. Help With COVID-19 * This blog is written from my own experience in Calais, from talking to other volunteers and doing further reading. Part of what makes With Love so special is the community of volunteers who all care passionately about the same thing—rallying around foster families with love, encouragement and support. Our site uses cookies. Over the Christmas break, I spent four days volunteering in Calais with the grassroots charity Help Refugees. I don’t have any heartstring-tugging photos (except for of some cats, who live at the warehouse, if you happen to be a cat person…). A crisis of this scale might feel like big news, but there are peaks and troughs of coverage as other things catch peoples’ interest, or other events occur, which can allow the refugee crisis to fade to the back of peoples’ minds, or imply that it’s not so bad anymore. For the last few years, they have run a huge warehouse where volunteers have sorted clothes, tents and toiletries supplies for mass distribution to refugees in Northern France. Please check back on this page in a week’s time, thank you for your patience. Every volunteer I encountered gave their all to what could at times be mundane or frustrating tasks. We can help, we can change things, if we work together, and if we Choose Love. But the stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.’ Leviticus 19:34 Tzelem, the cross-communal rabbinic call for social and economic justice in the UK, has produced a handy online resource addressing the refugee crisis through Jewish text. He is right. There are also organisations based in Dunkirk, for example the Women and Children’s centre, which offers a safe place to go during the day, with regular classes, workshops and games taking place. Help Refugees also has partners in Greece, supporting the camps there, for example Refugee Support Greece. School and Childcare Renovation Program. “What struck me was how strong, kind and positive many of the refugees were. Empathy please. It is not just the work on the ground in France and beyond which matters. ACCOMMODATION. ), take a picture of it, and add a note or message of support for refugees. This could range from helping out in the warehouse to translating for detained refugees in detention centres. Equaliteach CIC It was distressing to hear that the first night I was there, the camp in Dunkirk had experienced a tear-gas raid from French authorities. It’s sometimes the little things that make a difference: sending a set of Spiderman pyjamas to a two year-old boy, hoping he likes them better than the equally warm, but rather random mismatched alternatives. Volunteer in Calais. A lot of the time we rely on media outlets to keep us up to date, and this leaves us vulnerable to the intrinsic bias of the media, who decide what to report and how to report it. From USD 379. Many were not registered in time to be accounted for when accommodation was arranged, were not placed in centres, or have left the centres (for various reasons), so there are refugees camping or sleeping rough across France, and there is an official camp, smaller than the jungle, based in Dunkirk. In France, Help Refugees and Care4Calais both need voluntary support on the ground, as well as some other organisations: –Dunkirk Women and Children’s Centre– who are really in need of anyone available to help rebuild the centre, especially volunteers with practical skills and experience in this area. There are a multitude of charities and grassroots organisations working tirelessly to support the refugees: providing shelters, food, clothes donations as well as practical support such as legal advice and guidance with asylum applications. VOLUNTEER IN CALAIS Support refugees in Northern France. Despite the demolition of the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp, thousands of refugees are still in Northern France. coordinate volunteers and set up a system of aid distribution in the Calais ‘Jungle’ refugee camp. Not the BBC, it seems…, Outside the Box: Considering Gender Equality on International Women’s Day, EqualiTeach Submission to Women and Equalities Committee Call for Evidence on Proposed Changes to the Gender Recognition Act 2004, ‘Anecdote, Assumption and Prejudice’ – A Call to Re-examine the Way we Speak About Asylum, Black History Month: Overcoming the Barriers to Taking Part, Solidarity over Division: Speaking out against Antisemitism. Featured Destinations See All Destinations. 170 Likes, 3 Comments - Choose Love / Help Refugees (@chooselove) on Instagram: “Calais Update - dismantlements and crimes of solidarity Another large scale dismantlement at the…” ), are resold to volunteers and their friends and all the money goes directly back into the charity. People face a great many barriers in understanding […]. It highlights how volunteers are placed right in the middle of the two dominating debates within migration studies: power over migrants and power of migrants, which in effect places the volunteers in an interesting position of power. I was inspired: so many volunteers were giving up their Christmas breaks to be there.  They also told me of all sorts of creative and innovative ways that they support and offer solidarity at home. Donations raised through this website are paid to the Help Refugees restricted fund held by Prism The Gift Fund. Learn what items we need now! As much as is possible, refugees are given autonomy: for example being provided with cooking utensils and dry food stores, so they have choice of what to cook, and when to cook it, rather than relying solely on the daily meals from the Refugee Community Kitchen. That people will treat you badly even after you have been through unimaginable trauma. While the main camp is no longer in Calais, the warehouse is still a key hub of activity, sending donations of food, shelter and clothing across France and further afield to Greece and Turkey.  The official camp in Calais, referred to as the ‘Jungle,’ was demolished in October 2016 (more info following the demolition can be found here). The ‘Choose our NHS’ and ‘Choose our Carers’ tees are our way of showing love to them, with every penny raised going to NHS Charities Together and the Care Workers Charity. Choose Love. And to spend the afternoon out in the settlements, distributing goods and providing services. Some were there for months, some just for a day, but all there with the goal of helping refugees, and standing up against a huge humanitarian crisis. From USD 729. Whether for a weekend or a month, help making hot meals with Refugee Community Kitchen or chopping firewood with the Calais Woodyard is … But instead, I choose to write about Love. 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