Meet Mick, walking to Palestine for refugees

This is our volunteer Mick. Today he began an incredible and brave journey on behalf of refugees.

Having finished volunteering in Calais, he set off on a 2,200-mile walk to Palestine, all to raise awareness to raise awareness of the suffering of refugees – and of Palestinian refugees in particular. Along the way he’ll be meeting with trade unionists and campaigners and asking them to walk and talk with him for an hour or so.

It’s such an amazing thing to do, but typical of the dedication of Mick, who’s passionate about caring for refugees, and has been volunteering with us since 2016. “I believe that every human being should be able to live where their rights are respected, and have enough money to secure a decent life for themselves. We take that for granted in the UK, but for millions of people it’s only a dream.”

He says he’s always inspired the resilience and courage of the refugees he meets in northern France. This time, just before setting off, “I met an Afghan guy in his early 30s, an engineer, who had left Afghanistan two years ago and walked more or less all the way to Calais. He was so good-natured and self-deprecating, yet he was telling me about the things he’d been through, like living in forests in Bulgaria, and dealing with hostile police.

“It made me think of all the things I’ll have that make my journey easy: legal status, a passport, phone with plenty of credit, and if anything goes badly wrong I can get home. We need to remember how privileged we are to have those things.”

Mick’s route will take him through France, Switzerland, Italy, Albania and Greece to Istanbul, which he’s aiming to reach by mid-October. From there he has to fly over Syria to Amman in Jordan, from where he’ll walk to the West Bank.

To support Mick, please go to the Facebook page he’s set up to record his journey, and leave a message of support, or even better share it: link in bio