Day Four – trade unionists 4 Calais – Monday 15th February
In the words of those who are here as part of the Stand Up To Racism #TU4Calais trip:
I met a lady who was in the earthquake in Nepal and she had come to volunteer in the warehouse. We started sharing stories and we both started to cry when we had to say goodbye. We felt like we had a connection. I went to the camp to distribute food but as I speak Arabic I was quickly invited to help with translation of the petition.
I was invited by a lovely man from Sudan to join him for some food, he gave us lunch and we joked and relaxed, like going out for lunch with a friend. Everyone was asking us “where will we go if they bulldoze the camp? We don’t want to go in the containers here in the camp we are together”
Today people were so eager to learn, it was lovely to see refugees who were more confident in English teaching fellow residents. We saw a really wide range of experience and ages. I met a history teacher from Egypt and also spoke with a young man of 16 who traveled alone from Afghanistan.
Working with the younger children today was an amazing experience. Seeing such enthusiastic kids with smiles on their faces, wanting to explore and learn to read and write in English and French created such a warm atmosphere in the classroom. I worked with two sisters from Iraq (5 and 8 years old) who were so determined to read and write in English; I was surprised at how much they had learnt already!
A teacher from East London who joined us for the day said “It was great teaching student from Afghanistan and Iran, it made me feel like a teacher again. This was because it was fabulous to be helpful to students to do something that had such a positive impact. It was a privilege to teach students from other countries that needed our support. This made me realise also that our union needs to support the plight of refugees and give them every help we can and make sure that we take a stand against racism, and link the campaign to support refugees with the fight against racism and encourage people to join the demo on March 19th on United Nations day against racism”.
We taught dance in the women and children’s centre. Their faces were full of smiles, they enjoyed the physical activity. The children, around ten of them form toddlers to teenagers, joined in. Some older boys, who had been finding it hard to engage, started to join in and were asking for more dance lessons.
The lessons we taught were traditional dances from Palestine and the Middle East. They all asked us – “Will you be back tomorrow?” ‘It was difficult to leave the “Jungle” and say goodbye to the children we’ve been teaching and their families. Their homes and the school we’ve been teaching in (set up only a week ago) could be destroyed by bulldozers at any moment.
I was blown away by the strength and resilience of humanity. Those of you who donated items, we took them to a warehouse where they are being sorted by an amazing team of volunteers, so they can then be distributed among the residents of the camp. Staff at school and the rest of you who donated money, we raised 400 euros in total! This was very gratefully received today by the L’Auberge Des Migrants who now plan to spend the money on nutritional snacks and resources/equipment for the camp’s growing child population. Thank you all!
