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Calais refugee library flooded with thousands of books Calais refugee library flooded with thousands of books
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The makeshift library that is providing books for refugees staying in the Calais camp known as the Jungle has got inundated with books and emails of support in the last couple of weeks, following a Guardian article about it. Jungle Books, as it is named, has now “more than enough” books to go around, and its creator, British teacher Mary Jones, is trying to redirect help to where it is most needed. The makeshift library providing books to refugees in the Calais camp known as the Jungle has been inundated with books and emails of support, following a Guardian article about it. Jungle Books has now “more than enough” books to go around, and its creator, British teacher Mary Jones, is trying to redirect help to where it is most needed.
Jones told the Guardian that she has got thousands of books and emails: “People have been brilliant, and a lot of them are coming over with their cars full of things, including books.” While this is an extremely positive outcome, “the library is so small, and also the types of books people are looking for are not necessarily the ones people are sending,” she said, stressing that the library was most in need of books in refugees’ native languages. Publishers like Verso Books are also helping and, already, Jungle Books is in a healthy “books from floor to ceiling” situation. “People have been brilliant, and a lot are coming over with their cars full of things, including books,” Jones told the Guardian. She added: “The library is so small, and also the types of books people are looking for are not necessarily the ones people are sending.” She stressed that the library was most in need of books in refugees’ native languages. With publishers such as Verso Books also contributing, Jungle Books now had “books from floor to ceiling”.
At this stage, “it’s a shame for money to be spent on the postage of books,” Jones said from the ground – instead, she hopes to encourage people wanting to help to now devote those resources to more urgent priorities, mainly electricity and safe cooking equipment. This has prompted her to create a crowdfunding campaign – with a goal of £10,000, the page encourages people to make pledges starting at £10. At the moment, “as nights are soon going to start getting longer,” the priorities are generators, LED rechargeable lamps, and safe cooking equipment, with camping stoves presenting serious fire hazards, as well as the candles that many refugees are using to light their tents. “It’s a shame for money to be spent on the postage for books”, Jones says – instead, she hopes to encourage people wanting to help to help tackle more urgent priorities. With this in mind, she has created a crowdfunding campaign. With a goal of £10,000, the page encourages people to make pledges starting at £10. As nights started getting longer, the priorities were changing, she said, with generators, LED rechargeable lamps and cooking equipment at the top of the list. Camping stoves were presenting serious fire hazards, she said, as did the candles that many refugees were using to light their tents.
IA couple of laptops have proved very useful to access dictionaries in a multitude of languages, and more would be welcome, she continued. She also pointed out that refugees “walk around in flip flops, and a lot of them have no jumpers or warm jackets,” which is going to become an issue as the weather gets cooler. Laptops were also useful, she added: the couple that had already been donated were proving very useful to access dictionaries in a multitude of languages. She also pointed out that refugees “walk around in flip flops, and a lot of them have no jumpers or warm jackets,” which is going to become an issue as the weather gets cooler.
While small, Jungle Books is evolving quickly and becoming a community hub. “People come to me and tell me what they need,” Jones said. “This has helped me better understand what their main priorities are. You learn every day, as time goes on, what the more practical solutions are – for instance, camping gas stoves, of which we have many, are very unstable and the price of their refill is prohibitive.” The space is about to expand so that there is one area for books and another for small lessons and discussions: “we’ve already got suggestions for debates on how the communities of different nationalities can live better together, and from people wanting to explain to others about their country and why they have had to leave it.” While small, Jungle Books space is evolving quickly and becoming a community hub: “People come to me and tell me what they need. This has helped me better understand what their main priorities are. You learn every day, as time goes on, what the more practical solutions are – for instance, camping gas stoves, of which we have many, are very unstable and the price of their refill is prohibitive.”
The space is about to expand so that there is one area for books and another for small lessons and discussions: “We’ve already got suggestions for debates on how the communities of different nationalities can live better together, and from people wanting to explain to others about their country and why they have had to leave it.”