Day 1
Our first day with Care 4 Calais. We weren’t entirely sure what to expect. We had come from Birmingham Stand Up To Racism as a group of six teachers, and for four of us, it was our first time in a refugee camp.
At the 9am briefing, jobs for the day included warehouse sorting, targeted distribution, English and Art teaching. I started in the warehouse with a group sorting through new donations. I saw what makes a good donation and how many were not appropriate. Then, secondary sorting involved unpacking hundreds of men’s boxer shorts. Volunteers who had been to the warehouse before were commenting on how low the stock of donations was. In some categories- men’s coats and jumpers for example – there are just a few boxes left to distribute to the 5000 plus refugees in the camp.
