Naji and Ali’s story
Today I got talking to two friends called Naji (on the left) and Ali. Naji had a bike that he used to get around on, Ali walked with a crutch because he has a damaged leg. “It was when he was trying to get into a truck,” Naji explained for him. “He fell into the road, and was hit by a car.” Ali had basic medical treatment for the injury but it was clear he was still in pain. Naji helps to look after him now. They left Sudan together, and have travelled all this way in each other’s …
Meet our endlessly energetic volunteer Sam
This is Sam. She’s an amazing person, and a huge inspiration to us all at Care4Calais. And she runs a team doing incredible things for refugees. Sam’s our lead volunteer for Reading where, as well as helping with refugees’ needs and problems, she organises loads of activities, from basketball matches to boat trips. One particularly brilliant thing she and her team do is to set up small committees of refugees who help sort and distribute donations for others in their area. “It empowers people,” she says, “and we always try to do that. Because we want people to be …
Almost 1000 refugees rescued from the Channel this month
Early this morning we were out a food distribution in Calais when I noticed a group of Sudanese refugees looking very subdued and downcast. I was a bit worried about them, so decided to see if everything was ok. As I got closer, I realised that all their clothes were wet. Not just caught-in-the-rain wet, they looked as if they’d been completely soaked from head to foot. When I asked what had happened to them, they explained there had been “a problem with the boat” and made plunging signs with their hands. I understood; they had experienced something that has …
Sadam’s Story
I knew I had to leave Sudan after I was arrested and beaten by the police. I was going to join a demonstration against President Al Bashir when soldiers grabbed me and took me to the cells. They beat me so hard with everything they could find – iron bars, sticks, hands and guns. Then they kicked me in the head and face so many times with their steel-toe capped boots. As they did it they were cursing all the time, things I had never heard before I was so humiliated. The beating caused so much pain and noise in …
Meet the Manchester’s amazing Afghan dressmakers
A small group of us in Manchester have been running weekly creative and wellbeing sessions for refugees in the airport hotels here. We thought they’d be opportunities for the ladies and children to have a break, chat to different people and do some light crafts-type activities as a change from their normal routine. In fact, as the sessions have developed, they have become as much of a learning experience and treat for the volunteers as the refugees, because the Afghan ladies have utterly amazed us with their sewing and creative skills. The intricacy of their sewing and embroidery really …
Nathaniel’s Story
Even now that I have made it to the UK and I feel safer, I have such difficult feelings and thoughts. I had to leave my mum and sister in Sudan and now they are suffering and I feel so guilty. My dad is dead and my uncle, who used to help my mum, was imprisoned when I got out of Sudan. I’m only 17 but I feel I should go back to help them – but if I did I think I would be killed. It makes me feel bad. I don’t like to think about it as I …
Meet the refugees remaking a garden in Folkestone
This is the work of the fantastic gardening club that our volunteers run with asylum seekers who are housed in the notorious Napier Barracks in Folkestone. In the last few weeks these hardworking men have completely re-landscaped and planted up the garden of the local scout hut the group is based in – they’ve even installed fire pit, impressing the group leaders with the speed and quality of the work! It’s great to see people who are housed in such a harsh and stultifying environment like Napier find enjoyment and sense of purpose working with the earth and plants like …
Kamal’s Story
Today we had some truly brilliant news. Kamal, a 22-year-old Sudanese refugee whose been in detention for two months under threat of being sent to Rwanda, has finally been freed. For two months Kamal has lived in constant fear and anxiety as he worried about was going to happen to him. He knows of atrocities committed by the regime in Rwanda, and even now he’s been released, the thought of being sent there makes him physically shake. It will probably give him nightmares for months. “I spent 18 months travelling through Africa trying to find a way out. In every …
Rwanda Update
In just two weeks we will be back in court to challenge the lawfulness of the Government’s cruel Rwanda policy. To have any chance of stopping this, the time to act is now. We’ve recently learned that the Foreign Office warned Priti Patel that refugees should not be sent to Rwanda due to human rights concerns, including that they could be forced to join the country’s army and sent to fight in neighbouring states. Following this disclosure, the Government has been ordered by the court to deliver more documents next week that had previously been redacted. What else could they …
Lem Lem’s story
My name is Lem Lem, and I crossed from Calais to the UK with my little daughter Meloda. In Calais I was desperate and I found a smuggler to help me cross to England, but I daren’t tell him I had a little daughter. When I saw the boat on the night we were to travel, I was afraid. “No,” I said, “I can’t go on that. It is too dangerous for my child.” And then he told me he wouldn’t take my child anyway. “Leave her here,” he said. She was so small, not long able to walk. He …