I volunteered in the Calais "Jungle" - ask me anything!

[NurseintheJungle]

NC for this one as it may be outing.

I am a RGN and I volunteered in the migrant camp also known as "The Jungle" multiple times for 2-4 weeks at a time until it was closed. I have also volunteered in Lesbos and Greece. Please feel free to ask me anything you like! However if you make racist comments prepare to be challenged!

Are numbers dropping or increasing?

It's difficult to keep track of exact numbers now the main camp has shut down, I'll try and get an estimate together for northern France at some point today.

Thank you for answering my questions.

I marched with fellow mumsnetters a few years ago in the Solidarity with Refugees march. Then sympathy was high - remember the heartbreaking picture of toddler Alan Kurdish washed up lifeless on the beach. But how the public tide has turned...

Kudos to you op

I marched with fellow mumsnetters a few years ago in the Solidarity with Refugees march. Then sympathy was high - remember the heartbreaking picture of toddler Alan Kurdish washed up lifeless on the beach. But how the public tide has turned...

This answer may not go down very well with some, but I genuinely believe that there is more sympathy with Syrians because they look European - many commented on how fair skinned Alan was. Unfortunately though many will deny this, the failure to assist refugees has a racist undertone, and the darker someone's skin tone is, the less likely people are to want to assist. I mean Yarls Wood isn't full of white immigrants is it? We need to be realistic but this narrative often invokes outrage so I'm going to brace myself now...

Thanks for your work.

To those asking if they can help, I am involved in a charity that sends convoys of volunteers to Calais for a weekend - we pay for your crossing and support you to be useful, you give your time and pay for your hostel room. Our first time volunteers usually help in the warehouse or the Calais kitchen, which we also support financially. If you are anywhere near Cambridge You can see more details here. camcrag.org.uk/convoys/

Anyone who asks for asylum in france is given accommodation and minors have rights whatever their status to accommodation, protection and education. What do you think could be done to make these facts known to the migrants and volunteers and to ensure the french government fulfills it's obligations.

Anyone who asks for asylum in france is given accommodation and minors have rights whatever their status to accommodation, protection and education.

I'm speechless that people still believe that everyone that puts in an asylum claim in France is housed. There were people with active asylum claims living in the camp. There wasnt even enough accommodation for children when they closed the camp down, let alone adults...

Zzzz. If the children were / are in France they have actual rights. If they were in the uk they would have rights there. There is a children's commissioner in France who promotes the children's rights. It's not about where their future will be, it's about their rights to protection not being carried out. As the op has pointed out horrible things happen to unproteted children. I asked about what could be done to ensure children aren't living in camps in France and the french state fulfills its duty of care. If the children have family in the uk there are official ways to obtain family reunification. Children don't need to be trafficked across the channel.
Op, why were people who had claimed asymum living in the jungle? Had they chosen to stay there or were they not offered accommodation? If they weren't offered any that is clearly wrong so what could be done to highlight and change this situation?
It was planned that everyone living at the jungle would be dispersed to centres around france, and some, as we saw in the press went to the uk. Do you think this wasn't true and that people were left out?
My questions aren't meant to be inflammatory, I think that if France is not meeting it's basic obligations that inflates the numbers trying to cross to the uk and plays into the hands of the traffickers and something needs to be seen to change. It's amazing the work volunteers are doing but we just shouldn't be allowing vulnerable people to be dependent on volunteers if they are not having their rights met by the bodies that are meant to look after them.

I think what you are doing is honourable

Can I ask, what are the provisions for looking after mental health issues? Are there high rates of mental health illness as a result of the trauma that people have experienced?

Oh and what is the general local attitude towards the migrants?

I’ve found it touching that locals in Lesbo’s and other places have been supportive of the migrants themselves, but angry at the Greek/EU response to providing assistance.

Is that the same for Calais?

How do you think Britain would cope if (like Germany a few years back) would decide to invite the refugees into the country?
How would we deal with the housing shortage? Health Care access? School places? How would we pay for this with the current welfare cuts being put into place? (= real issues discussed on NM every day!)

Any hints and tips for British migrants in France who might have to claim asylum after Brexit? And if we're granted an amnesty, how can we help other migrants? I'm going to rural eastern France, and the nearest town has a branch of the charity Secours Catholique, where the volunteers give advice to a lot of non-European immigrants. Would this be a good place to offer my services?

Any hints and tips for British migrants in France who might have to claim asylum after Brexit?

Why would they need to claim asylum? Is the uk a dangerous country to live in all of a sudden?

rape is common and accepted in some countries that migrants come from.

Which counties?!

@NurseintheJungle It's quite likely that in the event of a No Deal Brexit, Brits on the continent with less than 5 years residency will be classed as undocumented migrants, and deported back to what will by then resemble a failed state. In this worst case scenario, claiming asylum will be their last chance of being allowed to stay. I don't know whether the UK would continue to be classed as a safe country after Brexit, but it may well not be safe in practice. Especially to those without shelter or access to social security.

Which counties?!

I'm going to assume you mean countries and not counties.

For example, 24.8% of women aged 18-24 have experienced sexual abuse prior to the age of 18 in Nigeria, and 60% of all children trafficked to Europe come from Nigeria according to recent statistics.

warifng.org/rape-stats-in-nigeria/

There is many articles about rape culture in Nigeria, however I understand there is now programmes running in schools to teach respect towards women/girls and to teach girls how to say no and stay safe.

Here's a report on Calais camp from 2 years ago. Some of you may find the status interesting, particularly regarding the amount of children and how many of them had government funded accommodation.

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