A MONMOUTH carpenter was among a group of five volunteers that returned last Tuesday (1st December) from a three day trip to a refugee camp in France to distribute supplies, clear up rubbish, and build communal kitchen shelters.

Charlie Hayward went with a group from Ross-on-Wye called Ross for Refugees, and helped a larger volunteer group from Bristol called Aid Box Convoy (ABC). The refugee camp is situated in a wooded park in Grande Synthe, a suburb of Dunkirk, and is made up predominantly of Kurdish refugees fleeing from Iran, Iraq and Syria.

In June the camp contained around 150 refugees, and has now increased to over 1,000. Wooden huts had been built earlier in the year, but most of the refugees now live in hastily erected tents. The local council has provided three large skips, running water next to the entrance, and three large converted containers providing toilets and washing facilities. The recent rains have caused the grounds of the camp to become waterlogged and muddy, and Ross for Refugees want to return to the camp to build sturdy shelters.

Mr Hayward said: “The people there are all fleeing persecution and war in their own countries, and many have had arduous journeys to get to this site. There are a lot of young people there, and many families with small children, with more people arriving every day.

“I went over with four others from Ross for Refugees, and co-ordinated with ABC Bristol, who were delivering much needed supplies. ABC were seminal in co-ordinating the various relief efforts, mainly because they have more experience here and at the camps in Calais, but also because they have local Kurdish-speaking residents to liaise with the refugees.

“In the mornings we would take orders from people for what they needed; shoes, blankets, tents and jackets seemed to be the most popular, and then distributed these parcels to them in the day. This in itself was a difficult task, as we had to compile the orders from our stocks, and those from the many van loads of stuff arriving all weekend, mostly from the UK.

“Another task for the weekend was to help put up some hastily-prefabricated communal kitchen areas, made from donated timber and corrugated tin, a difficult task in the waterlogged clay, during a howling gale and torrential rain. Despite the appalling conditions, most of the refugees were pretty upbeat, very friendly and grateful, and happily made us coffee, shared their food, and helped out where they could.

“The most urgent aid we need right now are donations to fund the building of winter shelters. The field is a quagmire, and we want to return to build proper shelters and wind guards, as tents won’t suffice after the storms we’ve had. We need to raise them off the ground, as there is mud everywhere.”

For more information, to volunteer, and to donate to their crowd funding campaign for shelter materials, visit Ross for Refugees’ Facebook group: www.facebook.com/rossforrefugees or send an email to: [email protected]