Delivering a Fire Engine to ‘the Jungle’ refugee camp with Arcadia

I Just got back from ‘the jungle’ refugee camp in Calais, where approximately 6,000 refugees from many different countries are currently stuck, trying to get in the UK by risking their lives jumping onto trains or into trucks. The camp has been there for years, but recently it’s numbers have greatly swollen due to the European refugee crisis.

I was down there with Arcadia and Calais Youth Alliance to deliver a fire engine, outlining the importance of emergency services there and how often the issues being faced there are ignored by the authorities.

What really struck me about being down there, was that there was very little presence from the large NGOs, and none by the UN, even though this is certainly a humanitarian crisis. Instead by far the bulk of those helping out with donations, time and ingenuity were independent people and grassroots micro charities that have been set up especially and on site, within recent months. Many of those present and running such operations are from the activist and festival circuit, using the skills learnt from many land protests, free parties, festivals and travellers sites, to help those most in need who are stuck between two of the richest countries in the World, with little option but to stay in the difficult conditions they face every day in the camps.