Dunkirque Refugee Camp

25 March 2017

I woke up at 3:20am hopped in the shower, threw on some clothes and waited downstairs for my friend to pick me up at 4am. We then drove over to pick up another friend and headed down to the channel tunnel to meet up with the other volunteers to go to the Dunkirque refugee camp. We met up with the crew and headed onto the train. On the train, we felt and heard a strange bump in the back of the car as we waited in the que. Come to find out the bloke behind us was putting sugar in his tea and accidentally rear-ended us. How English is that? Anyway, when we got to France we immediately headed to the camp. We unloaded some of the cars of donations we brought. We brought some lovely knitted blankets with handmade knitted teddies wrapped together in a beautiful package someone had put together and donated. Other packages were maternity packs for baby and mum with little outfits, blankets, sanitary items and a handmade stuffed teddy. I have no idea who donated them but they were hugely popular. We also brought a few school supplies and Easter chocolate. Eventually we went into the women’s centre and after handing out our donations, I got out the henna I had brought. A few Iraqi women were excited and immediately started painting my hands with henna. They were much friendlier than last time and I was able to speak with them in Arabic which they were very surprised by. A little Iranian girl painted another hand of mine and I painted hers. The Iraqi woman who did my henna then proceeded to do several other women’s hands. I was so glad that they liked the henna I brought. I even saw some of the other volunteers getting their hands painted with henna.

A little handicapped girl in a wheel chair who was sitting in the centre, started crying uncontrollably. They didn't know what was wrong until they figured out she was hungry. They gave her a carrot but she was struggling to eat it. Someone asked if anyone had something softer. I had made green muffins (spinach, banana, honey muffins) and gave the girl one to eat. She ate every bite and seemed to perk up and feel better afterward. I was so happy to hear that. Some of my own children wouldn't touch those muffins but this little girl loved them.

After working in the women’s centre, we proceeded outside, it was a gorgeous sunny day.  We began to shovel and rake rocks into buckets to carry over to the children’s centre where we were making  a ramp to the back door for the two handicapped children in the camp to be able to get into the school easier. We shovelled and raked rocks for a few hours until there were enough piled up to the height of the step and then mixed and poured cement for the ramp.  We (my friend and I) were then asked to put locks on the women’s shower stalls. The women apparently were too afraid to take showers because there was no lock on the doors, anyone could come in and showers were not relaxing when you are afraid of something like that happening. It has been a big problem. We gathered the necessary tools and equipment and headed over. By this time, we were joined by one more woman and the three of us determined to put these locks on.  However, the doors were not solid and when we drilled the screws in to hold the locks, there was nothing for the screws to secure themselves to so it wasn’t working very well. We also had problems because our drill wasn’t strong enough to drill holes in the metal on the door frame for the locks to slide into. It was so disappointing not to be able to finish this project because while we were doing it, the women of the camp kept coming in with big smiles, so happy to finally be getting locks on the doors. I still think about it and it makes me very sad that we were unable to do it. But we made the other volunteers that we know who go a lot more often, promise they would get the locks put on ASAP.

After the lock failure, we went and built cupboards for the toys in the children’s centre. Throughout the whole day, I was so thrilled to meet so many Iraqi Arabic speakers. I got to use my Arabic much more than the first time I came to this camp. I loved speaking with the people. In fact, I didn’t even mind when a 20 something Iraqi man was asking me if I was married and was quite interested in me because he was so thrilled and surprised to see a blonde lady speaking Arabic. He would wait outside buildings for me so he could speak to me in Arabic. I didn’t mind, I loved the practice. I spoke to so many different people. I was so happy to communicate with them in their own language. It is funny because I felt nervous before going down to the camp, thinking I might not be able to communicate or that they wouldn’t understand my Arabic with my American accent. But they did! I spoke to numerous men, women and children throughout the whole day. I met an Iraqi man named Shearwan from Baghdad and his two daughters, 7 and 10. I showed them pictures of my daughters who are  the same age. I spoke to them for a while. He spoke to me in English and I kept responding in Arabic. He invited me and my friend Valeria to their “house.” There I met his wife, 7 months pregnant, sleeping on a wood floor. I didn’t even see anything soft in their shack for her to lay on. It was so tiny but the few items they did have were neatly stacked and organized.  They were praying to get to the UK to have the baby.  The man told me that he had decided to tell no one that he and his family are muslim. They had all taken Christian names and declared they were Christians. He was desperate to get his family somewhere safe and nice to have their new baby. The dusty, dirty camp with no heating or electricity and some many other problems is no place for a baby to be. Sadly, I don’t think his chances are good. I did get his phone number though and promised to check up on  them.  I also spoke to a 20 year old boy who had been in the camp for 16 months. He said he had left his family in Iraq and was all alone. So many sad cases, it breaks your heart because there is not much you can do for them other than give them the donated stuff you have brought etc.

Working with all the other volunteers is the most fun ever. I have met the best people you could ever meet volunteering at these camps. They genuinely care about humanity and the suffering of others and so much so that they actually go and do something. Most of them go several times a month. We all laugh so much as we work and especially when we travel back home, we are all delirious from the exhaustion of our work all day and the laughing and shenanigans are too much fun. I am so thrilled to be able to make a small difference in the lives of these refugees. I can’t imagine being in their position.

We spent several hours raking and shoveling rocks into a bucket. We then carried the rocks over to the back door of the school and piled them up to make a ramp for the two handicapped children in wheelchairs in the camp.

Here is the finished ramped drying with all our rocks underneath.

This is us in the children's centre putting backs and doors on the cupboards for the toys.

This is the Iraqi woman who took over the henna since I am really no good at it. She is doing henna for the little Iranian girl who did one of my hands.

Here is me with my Iraqi henna lady. I had so much fun chatting to her. She was so lovely!

Inside the Women's centre

Here I am trying to drill the locks on the stupid shower doors. So disappointing that we could not finish that job.  



This is the picture of the school or children's centre taken from across the road.

The lovely cupboards we built in the children's centre. We also put locks on the cupboard doors.  

Some of the crew of volunteers