In a field near Dunkerque, a circle of five chairs round a small table festooned with a jumble of scissors, clippers, oil, capes and towels. It’s refugees’ hair cutting time!
Much in demand, hair cutting is one of the services provided by Care4Calais, a charity meeting the needs of refugees and asylum seekers stranded in the Pas de Calais region of northern France. Actually, beyond providing the equipment, we volunteers don’t have to do very much: the shaving, trimming and cutting is all done by the refugees themselves, with immense care and loving attention to detail. If you can’t get the big things in life fixed, such as boarding a boat to the UK, you can still take pride in the small things. Those include looking good amongst your peers — and enabling them to look good too.
Elsewhere in the field, other valuable services are being delivered. There’s an orderly queue for hot drinks, laced with huge amounts of sugar. A small crowd gathers round the phone charging station. This is a lifeline, enabling refugees to maintain contact with family members left behind, as well as those already in the UK or other countries. There’s a group learning English, a children’s group engaged in colouring, a couple of people playing dominoes, and an energetic football game in progress. A sewing group offers the opportunity to make a friendship band, as well as repairs to clothing and shoes.
On other days we distribute goods, including winter clothing and tents. The demand for tents runs high, not just because of new arrivals. A favourite police tactic is to confiscate refugees’ tents and their contents, forcing people to spend the night under a rainy sky.
All this and more is organized at the Care4Calais warehouse, where volunteers sign in for duty at 9.20 every morning. The day begins with a briefing from the team leader, who stresses the need to follow health and safety practices. It’s a tight ship, strongly disciplined. Tasks are allocated, including cooking lunch for 25 or more volunteers, checking tents, sorting new donations, and assembling the gear needed for an afternoon visit to a site in Calais or Dunkerque. At the end of the day, after the site visit, there’s another debriefing. Volunteers are asked for their impressions. After my first day, the team leader specifically asked me how it had been for me, an attention to my welfare that, amongst all else she had to attend to, impressed me greatly.
Volunteering for Care4Calais is one of the most extraordinary experiences I have ever had. I had thought to meet despair here. Instead, I have encountered nothing but cheerfulness and the utmost civility in the refugee community, and an inexhaustible fund of practical compassion amongst the volunteers. The lead volunteers are mostly young women. Older people, including the few men, take guidance and instruction from them, a healthy reversal of the roles found in so many conventional work places.
Two powerful myths needs dispersing. First, these are NOT economic migrants. Most refugees, for the time being at least, are from Sudan, a country wracked by civil war, famine and genocide. They are coming because they have to escape. In other words, push factors are involved, not pull. No one is coming to the UK in order to milk our benefits system. Many are hard working, keen to contribute to society in their new homeland. These people are immensely brave and resilient.
Second, for most refugees there is no alternative to risking your life by getting on a boat. Apart from a handful of schemes covering Afghans, Syrians, Ukrainians and a few other groups, there are no safe and legal routes by which asylum seekers can apply to come to Britain. This is a scandalous omission from the new migration bill currently before Parliament. If safe and legal routes existed, the boats problem would vanish overnight.
No photos or attributed quotes can accompany this piece. Nor can I give precise details of where we are operating. Care4Calais has recently noted an upsurge in the presence and activities of far-right thugs in the Calais area.
If this article inspires you to volunteer for Care4Calais, don’t hesitate! It’s a superb organization, doing a much needed job. More volunteers will be needed during the cold winter months, especially over the Christmas – New Year period, when a skeleton service, consisting of Christmas boxes, will still be provided.
