The idea of volunteering at a refugee camp first came into my head when I had seen that an ex colleague of mine from the Edinburgh Fringe (the wonderful Kirstin Shirling) from many moons ago had been volunteering in Calais and I knew then that this was something I definitely wanted to do. In the build up to going I was very very nervous, scared and also worried about putting myself into a possibly dangerous and vulnerable situation. (There were many sleepless nights!) I had read many articles online about life at the camp and was aware before going that it wasn't the safest place to be.
La Liniere Refugee Camp is situated in Dunkirk in Northern France and is run by the French Aid Organisation, AFEJI. There are around 1500 refugees living there and it is a male dominated site with only around 150 women and 200 children. The majority of the refugee population come from Kurdistan (the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq) and Afghanistan. Women are vulnerable at the camp and there have been unfortunate reports of women being abused and raped on site. The camp is a vast ground of cabins with not much stimulation or activity going on, hence I cannot emphasise enough the importance of the different voluntary organisations present at the camp. There is an Adult Learning Centre, a Women's Centre, the Children's Centre, a Medical Centre and a Community Kitchen. There are also a number of different organisations present including the Red Cross and Gynecologie Sans Frontieres.
My job for the week was to help out at the Children's Centre. On arriving on the Monday morning it was quite a nerve wrecking experience as I had to have my passport checked by French security before entering through the gates. I walked silently through the camp as it was quite a shocking and sobering environment to get used to. As it was quite early many of the residents weren't up yet so it was very quiet. However when I reached the Children's Centre my spirits lifted and felt overjoyed by the positive and welcoming environment the volunteers had created.
This set the tone for me for the rest of the week and my nerves and fears were put to rest. All of the long term volunteers were positive, warm and passionate about their essential work. The Children's Centre is divided between two buildings-one for the older children aged 7-11 and the other for 3-7 year old's. As I am an early years teacher I was put to work in the infant building. This site is set up as a nursery where activities are set out but the children can choose what they want to do and play is the centre of all activity. The children are provided with regular snacks like in any nursery and they have lunch there every day. Lunch is such a beautiful time as all of the children sit around the table like a family with the volunteers and we all eat together. It is simple things like this that provide the children with escapism from life in their cabins where eating a meal around a large table is not a possibility for them .
I have so many highlights from the week but I will list just a few. One included being invited to one of the mother's cabins for lunch on my first day. I felt honoured to be included along with the other long term volunteers. It was incredible to see how she had set up her cabin to make it as homely and as comfortable as possible for her and her four children (one who has cerebral palsy). She had managed to create a kitchen area, a sleeping area and a dining area in her cabin. We were invited to sit in a circle to enjoy a meal of rice with tomato and bean stew. I was overwhelmed by this woman's generosity and her complete lack of hesitance or reluctance to give us literally everything she had to offer despite having so little to give.
Another highlight included enjoying a movie afternoon with the children. The volunteers blacked out all of the windows, we set up cushions and blankets and a projector in one room and gave each child some Nutella and bread and for an afternoon we all could have been anywhere in the world enjoying a film together.
I also had the opportunity to go to the local school with a few of the children one of the days. This was a very interesting and insightful experience for me as a teacher. The local government organised a free bus every day to take the children to and from school. I accompanied two of the younger children in the reception class. It was a very interesting experience to be a learning assistant for the day and the french teacher was very grateful for my help as she was able to get on with teaching the class while I supported the two children I was with. It was a real shock for me to see the contrast between the children living on the camp and the clean, well presented children in the class. One of the little girls I was with didn't have a skirt on under her coat and got quite upset when the teacher asked her to take off her coat. It was upsetting for me to see that even at that young age the children from the camp were very aware that they were different from the other children and felt maybe a little self conscious even at that age that they were less well presented than the other children. I realised from this trip to the school the importance to have a strong link between the school and camp and if I didn't have a full time job and commitments I would love to be the person to take on this role!
Overall this experience made my heart glow, break and be filled with love for these children. Each and every one of them has their own story and has taken their own journey to get there and the Children's Centre is such an important place for them to come and leave their troubles behind, be with their peers. play and have fun!
I could go on and on about the camp but I will finish for now. Not everyone can pack up and go off to volunteer here so I thought I would share my story to give people an insight into what life is like in this sad, heartbreaking but also magical and wonderful place!
