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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/18/hope-calais-jungle-camp-why-destroy-it
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| There’s nascent hope in the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp. So why destroy it? | There’s nascent hope in the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp. So why destroy it? |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| A fortnight ago I returned from my second trip to the Calais “Jungle” migrant camp. So much has happened in the couple of months between visits – but the amazing response of British volunteers, and the stark contrast with the brutality of the French state and indifference of the British government, has left a lasting impression. | A fortnight ago I returned from my second trip to the Calais “Jungle” migrant camp. So much has happened in the couple of months between visits – but the amazing response of British volunteers, and the stark contrast with the brutality of the French state and indifference of the British government, has left a lasting impression. |
| Related: France prepares to bulldoze half of Jungle migrant camp | Related: France prepares to bulldoze half of Jungle migrant camp |
| Conditions in Calais still fall well short of UN minimum standards, but there is a visible reduction in the extreme suffering I saw on my first trip. Because of British volunteers the kitchen we worked at is in a much better state. The pot wash area is no longer a pool of sickening mud but a floor of compressed rubble with pallets over a functioning drain; and getting water from the standpipes is now efficiently done using a bicycle that one of the refugees, Ali Waxima, converted into a wheelbarrow. There is a makeshift snug – an awning with a little stove and seating around it. | Conditions in Calais still fall well short of UN minimum standards, but there is a visible reduction in the extreme suffering I saw on my first trip. Because of British volunteers the kitchen we worked at is in a much better state. The pot wash area is no longer a pool of sickening mud but a floor of compressed rubble with pallets over a functioning drain; and getting water from the standpipes is now efficiently done using a bicycle that one of the refugees, Ali Waxima, converted into a wheelbarrow. There is a makeshift snug – an awning with a little stove and seating around it. |
| “Some guy wrote an article in the Guardian which gave us a mention and it had a huge impact,” said one of the long-term Ashram Kitchen volunteers. People read and shared my article, got in their cars, on trains and ferries, and went to help because they had wanted to for so long and now had an outlet through which to express all their pent-up horror. The situation is now approaching humane, in terms of meeting people’s most basic needs. The transformation is inspiring. | “Some guy wrote an article in the Guardian which gave us a mention and it had a huge impact,” said one of the long-term Ashram Kitchen volunteers. People read and shared my article, got in their cars, on trains and ferries, and went to help because they had wanted to for so long and now had an outlet through which to express all their pent-up horror. The situation is now approaching humane, in terms of meeting people’s most basic needs. The transformation is inspiring. |
| If the French authorities get their way, the “Jungle” camp will be demolished on 1 March and replaced with stacked shipping containers converted into 12-person accommodation units – though for a fraction of the number of people currently living there. The containers are not yet ready but the demolition process has already begun, and two churches, a mosque and a school were bulldozed with one hour’s notice – despite repeated reassurances they would not be. | If the French authorities get their way, the “Jungle” camp will be demolished on 1 March and replaced with stacked shipping containers converted into 12-person accommodation units – though for a fraction of the number of people currently living there. The containers are not yet ready but the demolition process has already begun, and two churches, a mosque and a school were bulldozed with one hour’s notice – despite repeated reassurances they would not be. |
| If the Calais camp is a “living hell” then there are no words to describe Dunkirk, where I spent a day. In Calais, aid has been allowed in and the refugees’ efforts to build an infrastructure have been tolerated. Not so in Dunkirk. Police don’t allow any materials that might be used to build shelters or pathways, so people live in tents and tracks of mud. Vehicles are not allowed in, so everything must be carried on foot. | If the Calais camp is a “living hell” then there are no words to describe Dunkirk, where I spent a day. In Calais, aid has been allowed in and the refugees’ efforts to build an infrastructure have been tolerated. Not so in Dunkirk. Police don’t allow any materials that might be used to build shelters or pathways, so people live in tents and tracks of mud. Vehicles are not allowed in, so everything must be carried on foot. |
| They will not let you in to Dunkirk because they don’t want you to see it. If animals were kept like this, the owner would be prosecuted for cruelty. I will never forget how my friend Waleed and I helped a woman carry her baby girl in a stroller back to their tent because she simply couldn’t push it through the mud. Dredging through the sludge, as the baby girl I was carrying started giggling and kicking her muddy little boots into my bottom, taking in a scene like something from a dystopian, post-apocalyptic nightmare, the reality of the situation hit me. In that moment I was glad to be in front of everyone else, so they couldn’t see me blinking back tears. I felt useless. | They will not let you in to Dunkirk because they don’t want you to see it. If animals were kept like this, the owner would be prosecuted for cruelty. I will never forget how my friend Waleed and I helped a woman carry her baby girl in a stroller back to their tent because she simply couldn’t push it through the mud. Dredging through the sludge, as the baby girl I was carrying started giggling and kicking her muddy little boots into my bottom, taking in a scene like something from a dystopian, post-apocalyptic nightmare, the reality of the situation hit me. In that moment I was glad to be in front of everyone else, so they couldn’t see me blinking back tears. I felt useless. |
| Related: I went to help at Calais’s Jungle refugee camp – and what I saw haunts me | David Kraft | Related: I went to help at Calais’s Jungle refugee camp – and what I saw haunts me | David Kraft |
| In Calais, there are glimmers of hope. A nascent justice system is being developed by the refugees. Representatives of the various communities in the camp attend meetings, which have grown up organically as a way to restore order, resulting in a noticeable reduction in crime. One volunteer who was mugged had her belongings quickly restored to her with the perpetrators publicly reprimanded. It is an intelligent and proportionate approach. At one meeting we heard about progress on a youth club and football team to keep youngsters out of trouble; and the punishment for the most severe crimes (particularly against volunteers) is expulsion. | In Calais, there are glimmers of hope. A nascent justice system is being developed by the refugees. Representatives of the various communities in the camp attend meetings, which have grown up organically as a way to restore order, resulting in a noticeable reduction in crime. One volunteer who was mugged had her belongings quickly restored to her with the perpetrators publicly reprimanded. It is an intelligent and proportionate approach. At one meeting we heard about progress on a youth club and football team to keep youngsters out of trouble; and the punishment for the most severe crimes (particularly against volunteers) is expulsion. |
| There is little refugees can do about crime outside of the camp, though, where they suffer beatings by fascists while police look the other way. We saw photographs of a refugee beaten so badly “his head was broken 13 times” – right under the noses of the police, one of whom, we were told, gave the attackers the “thumbs up”. As for direct police violence, medics are so sick of it they are compiling evidence, and one of our group, Firas – an Arabic speaker – spent much of the trip in the medical caravan taking statements. It is a desperate situation. | There is little refugees can do about crime outside of the camp, though, where they suffer beatings by fascists while police look the other way. We saw photographs of a refugee beaten so badly “his head was broken 13 times” – right under the noses of the police, one of whom, we were told, gave the attackers the “thumbs up”. As for direct police violence, medics are so sick of it they are compiling evidence, and one of our group, Firas – an Arabic speaker – spent much of the trip in the medical caravan taking statements. It is a desperate situation. |
| Whether or not the “Jungle”, as we know it, survives the planned demolition, the refugees will still be there, and so I will return. | Whether or not the “Jungle”, as we know it, survives the planned demolition, the refugees will still be there, and so I will return. |
| If you want to help, please visit our website, calaidipedia.co.uk. | If you want to help, please visit our website, calaidipedia.co.uk. |
| @davidkraft12 |