This deck contains the blogs written by Rachel Mantell on the https://www.facebook.com/groups/CalaisMigrantSolidarityActionFromUK/?fref=t... Facebook page

Imagine being a new arrival, confused, exhausted, scared, having spent weeks or even months getting there. What do you do? Where do you start?
At the pink caravan!
Most of the refugees know where it is- and that is where we as volunteers should take anyone we come across who is newly arrived.
There they are:
🔹given a welcome pack- the best sleeping bags and blankets that come into the warehouse are packed up with sets of the warmest clothes and some food, to get them started.
🔹directed to somewhere to sleep. Most of the larger communities have a system for newcomers- large communal tents or a space in a tent where someone has moved on. If there isn't somewhere the volunteers will provide a tent.
🔹assessed for other urgent needs eg shoes or medical care. This is also the first point when they might be flagged as needing to go on the vulnerable list to be prioritised for a shelter or caravan.
🔹most importantly they provide a much needed friendly face.

Support doesn't stop when refugees have settled in. There are a number of resources and support points for refugees in the camp. They include:
🔹the Jules Ferry Centre. Government funded, this is where some of the women and children sleep (it has been full for a while), and where there are showers, washing machines, charging points and a barber. The centre also gives one hot meal a day to about 1,500 refugees (they stretch it as far as they can but funding is limited). Behind Jules Ferry is where some of the more permanent structures are being built. Volunteers are not very involved with Jules Ferry, but it is included here for completeness as it offers a vital, if overstretched, service.
🔹free food kitchens (more on food later in the week)
🔹clinics and first aid caravans (more later in the week)
🔹distribution centres. In a couple of locations on site and open at specific times, they advertise what they are distributing and refugees can go and get clean dry clothes, new shoes, extra blankets etc. They can also flag specific needs and the volunteers will add them to the 'personal shopping' list- eg toiletries, sanitary towels or baby clothes. There are tons of these in the warehouse, so volunteers do not need to go and buy them: we just don't take them out in regular mass distributions as they would become waste. They are there if they are needed.
🔹information centre and information points. Spotted throughout the camp are signs that provide information for refugees- What is happening, your rights if you are detained, site maps and immigration advice. The information centre on site tries to offer factual, unbiased advice to refugees about what services they can access and what their options are. Rumour and misinformation is a major problem all along the refugee trail- as is amateur immigration advice- this is a babystep on the road to changing that.
Another vital support mechanism on site is the volunteers who live there or are on site long term. They do countless tasks (often working through the night) including:
🔹monitoring police activity,
- they are the first on the scene of fires and other issues, providing urgent assistance
🔹identify the vulnerable such as unaccompanied children and make sure they are checked up on, and are assessed for a shelter or caravan
🔹relaying urgent needs and priorities to the warehouse.
🔸When you hop in a van to a food distribution from the warehouse, where you go is identified by an onsite volunteers who has flagged that less food than usual was delivered that Saturday, or that a particular area wasn't visited.
🔸They identify 'personal shopping' too- asking a warehouse volunteer to pick up specific items. There is a rack at the front of the warehouse where it can be stored until they can come and get it.
They are also some of the few who even start to understand the complexities and relationships on site- eg tensions between refugees of different nationalities, how the camp economy works or people smuggler activity.
The on site volunteers are a vital connection between the volunteers, warehouse and refugees. It's difficult, complex, exhausting and emotionally draining- and they make a huge difference to the whole aid operation's ability to operate.

So what is the deal with food?
🍫Food parcels are the main source of food for many of the refugees on site. Small, individual packs of food (of equal size and trying to maximise the nutritional value) are handed out regularly, as are slightly larger packs that the camps of people share where they eat communally. Eating habits vary hugely across camp, but food is an integral part of the culture in many of the countries of origin- preparing, eating together and savouring both the flavours and the company.
🍳Not everyone onsite is Muslim by any means, but we say avoid pork as it is difficult to make sure it only goes to the non-Muslims and we potentially end up with a waste problem- and waste food attracts rats.
🍲Cooking facilities are mostly rudimentary so we try and avoid food that takes a lot of cooking. Pasta needs a continuous roiling boil- nearly impossible over a camp fire in the wind- plus is unfamiliar to many of the residents so we don't hand it out. Back to that waste problem!
🍗Oil, onions, dried fruit and spices seem to be most prized. Oh, and fresh fruit- but only if you add to the parcels at the last minute. Have I mentioned waste?
Apart from the food parcels there are a few food options:
🍅 There is French government funding for one meal a day for 1,500 people at the Jules Ferry centre. The chefs stretch their budget and ingenuity as far as possible, but it is of course completely inadequate in a camp of that size.
🍌An essential part of the picture are the free kitchens onsite. There, dedicated teams of volunteers and refugees cook huge quantities of food using donated goods. This is usually a late breakfast- around 11am- of porridge and tea, and an early dinner at around 4pm of whatever has arrived. How many people they can feed and in what is entirely dependent on your generosity.
🍓The camp periodically receives hot food deliveries, usually at the weekend. These are very welcome (and smell amazing!) but seem to have dropped off in numbers recently.
🍆A number of refugees have set up thriving businesses- these shops and restaurants offer a range of meals from afghan, Pakistani, fried chicken and packet food to terrifyingly sweet tea and hot cardamom flavoured coffee. There are lots now, and everyone has their favourites. I am particularly obsessed with the hot fresh bread available in many of them- it is delicious and does double duty warming my fingers.
🍇And lastly, of course, many of the refugees have some money. They can go to local supermarkets, and some eat in the restaurants in town (in fact the French police targeted bistros around the main square in an immigration sweep recently). But it's a long, cold walk and money is slowly starting to run out for many of them.
I could go on about food for ages as could many of us, I'm sure. It's critical for health, obviously, but also for sanity, comfort and providing structure to the day. It is something we need to keep front and centre of our efforts over the next few months- more and more people are going to be reliant upon us to eat as winter draws in.
If you want to know more or donate please contact Kitchens in Calais, Ashram Kitchen, or join the food subgroup (link in comments)

Calais has a massive waste problem. We are often asked why refugees don't clear up after themselves but this shows a misunderstanding of what the waste is.
Imagine how untidy a British high street gets after a Saturday night. Then imagine no one on that high street has a bin, only about half of them have any bin bags, there are no rubbish collections, and periodically someone comes and dumps a pile of wet clothes in the middle of the street. Then partially burn some tents and add them to the piles of rubbish. Oh, and there are inadequate toilet facilities so there are plastic bags of human waste and overflowing sewage dotted around too. That is the sort of rubbish we are dealing with. Groups of people with wheelbarrows, spades and forks, gauntlets and protective masks struggle to clear some of it: refugees without even gloves don't stand a chance.
This therefore means there are two things we need to do: we need to clear up the legacy rubbish: and we need to set up long term, effective systems to manage waste in the future.
Toilets: this is where MSF and Acted come in. Since they arrived on the ground the toilet facilities have been vastly improved. Not only are there many more of them, they are cleaned daily. As a note (because it keeps coming up) long drop and composting style toilets don't work in that environment as many of the refugees wash themselves with water rather than wipe with loo roll.
Legacy waste: we have run a series of waste weekends where volunteers from around the UK focus on one day to have a 'blitz'. In the three months we have been up and running we have run three weekends: tons or rubbish has been collected and thousands of bin bags filled. MSF and Acted identify priority areas for us to work on- where rubbish is a risk to health, rather than just being unpleasant and unsightly. However there is an enormous backlog and periodic fires result in another heaped pile of tangled waste that needs to be dealt with. We are working on plans to get more people involved. And yes refugees are involved- we need to figure out how to get more of them involved too.
Ongoing waste: there has been a step change in how this is dealt with due to the involvement of MSF and Acted.
- Wheelie bins are taken and become storage very quickly so we have had to come up with more inventive solutions.
- There are many more skips than previously and they are emptied regularly.
- The site is now dotted with bin collection points. Initially trialled by our team, Acted are now installing these and emptying them every day, and MSF have put up posters reminding people to use both them and the skips
- MSF hand out bin bags (and talk to the residents about the importance of using them) and they go into some of the food parcels that are given out.
Pollutants.
The site used to be a rubbish dump and is between chemical factories that are considered a danger to human health and the environment. The whole area is protected- you are not technically allowed to dig there because of what you may find. And the fires- both cooking fires and accidental, devastating fires- mean the air is full of particulates that contribute to 'jungle lung' and other long term health conditions. People should not be living here. There is a limit to what we can do about it- the local authorities are being asked what there plan is to dispose of the asbestos that can be found in one area, but there are much more fundamental and pervasive pollution problems than asbestos.
Water and washing.
- Currently there are a few standpipes dotted round the site. They have been 'improved' with duckboards and sinks by the waste volunteers but are hugely inadequate, prone to flooding and infected with e-coli. ACTED have plans to set up another ten standpipes, and are already laying piping.
- there are 'camping showers' dotted around the site, but the main washing facilities are at the Jules Ferry centre. 500 people a day can have a 6 minute shower- provided it is staffed.
- washing machines are also in the Jules Ferry centre. They are completely inadequate for a camp of this size and the refugees laughed when I asked about them.
Waste improvements are slowly being made, but we need to focus on clearing the backlog, and on putting pressure on the government to provide more facilities.

The jungle is not a healthy place to live by any means- cold, wet and polluted, it houses people from all over the world in squalid, overcrowded conditions.
So what does that mean for people's health and what are we trying to do about it?
🔹The French healthcare system will always treat emergencies. So if an ambulance is called to the camp, one will come. They don't always drive onsite, so there is now an agreed emergency point near Jules Ferry and refugees and volunteers will carry casualties to the ambulances.
🔹Treatment in hospital is similarly brusque- there are plenty of stories of refugees being told to go back to camp and keep their dressings clean where you or I would expect to be kept in with painkillers and proper wound care. However, the important thing is that serious injuries are treated.
But there are lots of injuries and illnesses on site that do not result in a trip to hospital. Some because they are not serious enough, but some because many refugees are terrified of any contact with the authorities. Those trying to cross to the UK don't want evidence they were in France that may result in their being returned if they make it across: while others have simply had such appalling experiences on their journeys they don't want to risk another encounter with people in uniform.
For these situations there are a couple of options.
🔹Medecins du Monde (MdM) are on site and run a clinic. For a long time this was the only healthcare available- they have been involved for a long time. This has paused after a series of break ins, but will be up and running again soon. Some refugees are cautious about using them as they take names and proper medical histories- for obvious reasons, but the fear of the authorities I have mentioned above can put some refugees off.
🔹Medecins sans Frontiers are also on camp, and have been for a few months. They have been focused on waste and sanitation as the single biggest threat to health on site, but are now moving into healthcare with a 'hospital'. We are not sure of the details yet, but the people I have worked with on waste have been wonderful- determined, flexible and friendly. So watch this space and keep your fingers crossed.
🔹The other thing that has been set up is medical caravans. Donated caravans that are staffed by a volunteer rota provide first aid, dressings, painkillers, flu meds, etc. They see some things over and over again and treat or triage and refer as appropriate:
🔸broken bones. These include broken ankles from jumping onto the top of lorries from bridges, and broken ribs from encounters with overzealous police officers or the region's thriving far right.
🔸cut hands from trying to climb over barbed wire. These can also get infected as it is so difficult to keep wounds clean.
🔸badly cut feet from walking back to the camp barefoot after police have taken the refugees' shoes to punish and discourage them from trying to cross.
🔸'jungle lung' as the nasty combination of bacterial and viral chest infections prevalent in camp have been dubbed. Apparently this is unique and is being studied by a doctor in London- it is certainly unpleasant and people feel very ill when they get it.
🔸coughs, colds, fevers and flu that are prevalent in the appalling living conditions. The caravans give out painkillers and cough sweets, but these often don't clear properly and half the camp seems to have a constant cough.
🔸scabies and lice. Absolutely no point trying to treat as refugees go back to the same living conditions- the same sleeping bags and clothes - and reinfect. Until we can clean the whole camp and replace everything that may be contaminated (a girl can dream) the best we can offer is antihistamines, Eurax and tea tree or neem oil.
🔸There are also the other issues you'd expect from a large group of people living together in those conditions- minor burns from cooking over camp fires etc, the aftermath of fights that need triage and treatment; handing out condoms and administering pregnancy tests, cuts and scrapes and bruises from falls in the dreadfully uneven ground, skin rashes and infections as it is so difficult to keep clean- pretty much anything you can think of is seen by the onsite medical team.
🔹We also have a dental caravan on site, manned by another team of volunteers. Those of you who have had tooth pain know how agonising it can be- the teams try and provide what relief they can from a specially fitted out caravan.
General health will improve on site only when all refugees have adequate housing, clothing and food. Until then, the charities and volunteers will do what they can but there are a lot of people suffering unnecessarily.
Update: the picture is from the vaccination clinic set up and run by HANDS international. Working closely with MdM, MSF and a representative of the French Health Minister, they are providing free influenza vaccinations to residents and volunteers and a signposting/advice service.

Most importantly the warehouse and camp support structure are not separate things! One doesn't function without the other. So to understand one you need to understand the other, and if we as volunteers can signpost refugees and other volunteers correctly we can start to figure out where we best fit in and get help out to camp even more quickly and efficiently.
➖How the warehouse works
🔹We ask people not to publish the warehouse address, post photos of the outside or share details of the location for security reasons, but you get it and directions when you volunteer. It's a big, scruffy building, with tall racking, lots of hand-drawn signs, humming with people. It's cold, some corners are wet, the loos are rudimentary and the lighting only runs up the middle so late nights involve adventures with head torches. It's not a luxurious high tech distribution centre by any means- but it's the centre of the UK aid coordination effort.
🔹Ideally you join the 9am briefing run by long term volunteers which covers what has happened overnight, what needs to go out urgently, whether there are any critical deliveries expected eg building materials that we have to make sure can be transported out to camp (very long heavy good vehicles can't get to most of the camp as any of you who have visited will know!) and if there are any requests from residents' representatives.
🔹It also covers specific warehouse-y stuff for those staying to work there- what deliveries are booked in, areas that need special focus, or urgent tasks like pulling together welcome packs for new residents.
🔹On a bad day (fewer volunteers than expected turned up, or lots of unexpected or badly packed deliveries arrive) it can seem like chaos, but some sort of order is quickly apparent. (I'll cover what happens to donations tomorrow.). There are systems in place: people who come for a few days are invited to improve them but only after the long term volunteers have talked them through. Something that works brilliantly on a Saturday when the place is full may be useless on a weekday when there is hardly anyone there- or if we don't know how it works after they have gone.
🔹We ask people to email according to the flowchart with donations or volunteers so people on the ground know vaguely what to expect, so can decide whether today is the day to get all the newly donated tents out and check they are sound, or not. It also means we can predict gaps- lots of builders but no materials for example- and put appeals out on here. And it has one other, vital, function- it means we know who is on site in the case of a problem. It is no fun after a fire or police incursion trying to guess who was in Calais and whether they are safe.
🔹The warehouse is a friendly place- everyone eats lunch together, and has a tea break together, and if you come in cold and wet from camp, someone will hug you and give you coffee. But a staggering amount gets done, too. It's satisfying, exhausting, dirty and sometimes frustrating work- that eagerly opened box of blankets that turns out to be so thin you can see light through them- but everyone is (usually) still laughing at the end of a long day....

The aim is to get as much aid to where it is needed in the camp as quickly as possible, without causing any problems. That may be causing a fire risk, creating a waste problem by delivering the wrong things, or fuelling a black market by distributing without due care. An amazing number of distributions go out daily, each one planned and managed, targeted to the right area of camp (more about onsite support tomorrow) with hundreds of items per distribution. The record (so far) is 21 mass distributions in one day!
Given the urgency, when deliveries come in they are quickly assessed by the experienced volunteers.
🔹The absolute dream delivery is a van full of one or two things urgently needed, booked in and all carefully labelled and boxed. They go straight back out again- that is why there are so often no sleeping bags and no decent tents- we get them out there as fast as they come in.
🔹Priority goods that are well packed and fit for purpose often do go straight out. But every box is checked because you don't want to get halfway down your big box of sleeping bags in camp to discover the bottom half is clothes. Mislabelling is sadly still common.
🔹Stuff that is good quality, correctly labelled etc but does not need to go out immediately is put in the right section of the warehouse by those volunteers who meet the donation vans. On a busy day that often means there are piles of toiletries next to the shelves and stacks of kitchen implements in the corners which will be neatly separated and slotted into the right place in a quieter moment.
🔹If there is any doubt about what is in the box or bin bag, it goes onto 'the mountain'.
🔹From there the volunteers check what it is, condition, and sort it by size in a massive production line. The piles of bin bags marked 'men's clothes' and 'miscellaneous' become a whole line of boxes- thin socks, thick socks, hats, medium long sleeved t-shirts, small jumpers etc.
🔹Stuff that is unsuitable but lovely or valuable goes into a vintage box- a volunteer takes it back to London periodically and sells it with the money going back into more practical donations.
🔹If it is just not right for camp conditions it goes in the cash for clothes bags: again, this is taken back and sold, so the donations do make a difference for the refugees as intended.
When a box is full it is sealed and marked with orange tape labelled with what is *really* in it and it goes into the restricted area of the warehouse.
🔹No one is allowed in there unless they are authorised by one of the long termers. Woe betide anyone who messes with distribution-ready aid!
🔹That area 'feeds' the distributions. The volunteers can be confident that what they are taking in the van is what they think it is because of all the hard work that has gone before. And when they get a message from one of the on-camp team they can respond quickly, getting the right goods out to the distribution centres on site.
If that sounds like a lot of work... It is.
There are constantly vans toing and froing- as many volunteers will know having had their van coopted for a couple of hours to get a last minute food distribution out before they get the ferry. It is only logical really- if donations arrived at the rate they do and we didn't process them and get them out again, we soon wouldn't be able to get in the doors.
It would be amazing to have less sorting to do, and be able to use volunteers on site for building, cleaning etc- which is why we go on about some things so often- only bring what we need (please no more towels or toothbrushes!), sort it, sort it again, label it, deliver in sturdy boxes if at all possible (crisp boxes discarded by your local newsagent are fine!) and always book in. If in doubt, leave it out.
We really do appreciate the donations- and the care, work and thought that has gone into them. And we love the volunteers who sort so much, so fast.