Another refugee tragically killed in Calais
Today another refugee was tragically killed in Calais. The 25-year-old Sudanese man died after falling under the wheels of a lorry after being hit by a lorry in the early hours of this morning, French newspapers report. According to other refugees interviewed at the scene, the man had run behind the vehicle as it left the parking lot, hoping to get into it somehow. When it came to a halt, he tried to climb between the trailer and the cab when it stopped. When it began to move again he slipped, and fell beneath the wheels as his friends watched …
Helping refugees affected by the Sudanese war
Today I learned a heart-breaking lesson about how important our phone charging services are. When we’re giving out food and clothing, we also provide big banks of charging points, and sometimes we give out charging packs too. This afternoon Adil, a 17-year-old refugee, asked to borrow my phone while his was charging. “I will show you a picture of my home,” he said. I thought he just wanted to show me where he was from. In fact he found Facebook and showed me a photograph a ransacked and damaged house. It was his actual home in Sudan. Staring at the …
Meet Faisal, refugee and aspiring journalist
When he lived in Afghanistan, Faisal dreamed of becoming a journalist, but boys his age were being forcibly recruited by the Taliban and similar outfits. Although he held out, keeping his head down and hanging onto his ambition as long as he could, he knew thart if he didn’t leave, he would eventually be forced to join “them”. And so he packed his dreams and a few possessions, and set off to make the long journey to Europe, where he believed he would be able to lead the life he wished for. I met him in Calais when …
Never forget: A vigil for the Channel drownings
On 24 November last year, 32 men, women and children died in the English Channel when their flimsy boat sank in the freezing cold sea, and British and French authorities ignored their desperate calls for help.. Those authorities face countless questions about what happened that fateful night, but a year on the victims’ families are still waiting for answers. They have been let down appallingly by the British and the French states, and at the very least they deserve explanations about what happened their loved ones. For the victims and their families, we demand justice, and we will never let …
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 …