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Working in Calais

"I had no training, yet was refusing shoes to people in sodden socks because they were the wrong age"

by Frank Andrews / October 31, 2016 / Leave a comment
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©Thibault Camus/AP/Press Association Images

A now-empty section of the “Jungle” refugee camp in Calais ©Thibault Camus/AP/Press Association Images

Over the weekend, as the French authorities moved in, the jungle closed to the vast majority of volunteers who decided to stay in Calais. We’re here in the town, working in the warehouses. But we know little about what’s happening inside the camp now, to the young people we have spent our time teaching or to those we have come to view as friends.

I came to the jungle three weeks ago on the recommendation of a university friend who thought my brand new French and Arabic degree might be useful here. With this enforced pause there’s time to think about what function people like us serve. One encounter stands out and helps to convey the dual sense of futility and hope that seems to inhabit most young volunteers.

It was my fifth day in the camp and I’d spent the morning distributing shoes to children—which meant having to refuse anyone without shoes who looked over 18. I was teaching a French class on body parts, when a tall, skinny, good-looking young man approached me as I was writing on the blackboard. He asked me if I would mind coming outside for a moment, so I asked another teacher—a volunteer from Paris—if she would carry on the class.

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Comments

  1. sophiedriscoll
    October 31, 2016 at 14:58
    Very insightful and sensitive. Thank God for people like you making a difference.
  2. ZoeSD
    October 31, 2016 at 15:58
    I have also worked in the jungle, and this sums up completely the helplessness that I felt. Beautifully written.

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About this author

Frank Andrews
Frank Andrews is a recent graduate of French, Spanish and Arabic from the University of Southampton. Before the demolition he taught French and English at a school in the Jungle. He plans carry on volunteering with refugees in Calais for the foreseeable future

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