The first three things I noticed walking onto Grande Synthe Human Being camp are;
First, the mud.
You cannot fail to notice the mud as it is everywhere and it is overwhelming. It permeates every aspect of these people's lives and is a constant enemy to be resisted, suffered and struggled against. How they manage to keep the inside of their makeshift homes so clean (which they do admirably) is a mystery to me. We tried to keep the inside of our van clean and we failed, admirably (apologies to www.legs4africa.org!) The mud is so bad that even to leave your tent, put on your boots and make the arduous journey to the toilet block, shower block or kitchen tent is a herculean task that saps the energy out of a strong man. The simple task of taking off or putting on your boots means that you will get thick mud on your hands and after a while I gave up trying to keep my hands clean. It was futile.
You cannot fail to notice the mud as it is everywhere and it is overwhelming. It permeates every aspect of these people's lives and is a constant enemy to be resisted, suffered and struggled against. How they manage to keep the inside of their makeshift homes so clean (which they do admirably) is a mystery to me. We tried to keep the inside of our van clean and we failed, admirably (apologies to www.legs4africa.org!) The mud is so bad that even to leave your tent, put on your boots and make the arduous journey to the toilet block, shower block or kitchen tent is a herculean task that saps the energy out of a strong man. The simple task of taking off or putting on your boots means that you will get thick mud on your hands and after a while I gave up trying to keep my hands clean. It was futile.
Secondly, the smiles.
These people are friendly, welcoming people, very appreciative of the efforts being made by volunteers on their behalf. I cannot count the times I have been thanked over the last few weeks for "the work you do for our people". There is spirit among these people. A spirit that will not be broken no matter how hard the haters, exploiters, power junkies and manipulators try. They sit around their camp fires and laugh, joke among themselves, play music, share food and cigarettes. We were constantly welcomed into people's areas and tents, offered tea and food, offered conversation and friendship; even from those who could not understand or speak our language. Sometimes the most eloquent conversations are non-verbal. A smile, a hug, a handshake, a gesture towards the surroundings and a shrug, a sad look, a fist thumped against the heart. The offering of a mug of hot tea. Offering a light for your roll up. These conversations are in the universal language of mutual respect and appreciation. The language of love. I have had quite a few of these non-verbal conversations of late.
These people are friendly, welcoming people, very appreciative of the efforts being made by volunteers on their behalf. I cannot count the times I have been thanked over the last few weeks for "the work you do for our people". There is spirit among these people. A spirit that will not be broken no matter how hard the haters, exploiters, power junkies and manipulators try. They sit around their camp fires and laugh, joke among themselves, play music, share food and cigarettes. We were constantly welcomed into people's areas and tents, offered tea and food, offered conversation and friendship; even from those who could not understand or speak our language. Sometimes the most eloquent conversations are non-verbal. A smile, a hug, a handshake, a gesture towards the surroundings and a shrug, a sad look, a fist thumped against the heart. The offering of a mug of hot tea. Offering a light for your roll up. These conversations are in the universal language of mutual respect and appreciation. The language of love. I have had quite a few of these non-verbal conversations of late.
Thirdly, the volunteers.
What can I say about these stalwart people from all over Europe who are living day in day out with the people who call that field of shite home? They are trying valiantly to keep them all from the edge of desperation and doing all they physically can to improve the conditions of life on the camp. The people from Aid Box Convoy (www.aidboxconvoy.org.uk), a Bristol-based group of grassroots volunteers who have been committed to working on this particular camp since October, and the independent volunteers from all over the international community living and working on camp full time, and all the people from all of the various groups around the UK (like www.lesolidarity.org among so many others) and Europe who have answered the call of the heart to do whatever they can to help in the face of this humanitarian crisis, are absolutely my heroes and my family. I love them, each and every one of them. The value of the work they are doing on the ground cannot be overstated and I have no doubt that their actions have thus far prevented many deaths, from hunger, exposure and disease, from happening over the last few months. They are overstretched, under-resourced and unsupported by any organisation, governmental or otherwise, but still they work on, doing what needs to be done in the name of the Family of Humanity. True Anarchy in action. People seeing clearly what needs to be done and just doing it, without thought of personal gain, and without waiting for permission from anyone. Just getting the job done.
After about two weeks into my trip I began to melt down. I started losing my faith and losing my ability to see the point of what I was doing there. I had a conversation with a guy called Ian, an ABC volunteer. He restored by commitment by telling me straight what we were doing. "We are injecting hope into the situation. This is not a hopeless situation". Thank you Ian. Thank you very much. You injected hope into me. I will always be indebted to you for those words.
The final thing that eventually became apparent to me in my time there was the profound truth that these people from Kurdistan (yes, that is a country, though you wont see it on any current map of the world) have so much more to offer us, in post-modern - consumerist - "God is dead" - apathetic UK, than we have to offer them. They have such a strong sense of community responsibility, such a profound respect for the privacy and sanctity of a person's home - however humble, such a strong tradition of hospitality towards strangers. These people could, and would, enrich our society with its focus on individualism and its cult of superficiality and celebrity. Sure we have much to teach them, (about environmental concerns and the silliness of sell-by dates if nothing else!) but also they have much to teach us, if only we could see it.
I hope and plan to be going back fairly soon, once I have my strength back (mental, physical, spiritual), and stay on camp until the French Establishment try to evict them. I will need to raise some money to do this as I have none and live on the benefit of benefits (what a privileged life I lead, seriously. I give thanks to That Which Is for my freedom and the access to public funds I have been granted. I try to make good use of them). I will stand with my friends (some of the people I met on camp will be friends of mine for life, whatever happens and wherever we end up). I may not see eye to eye with all of them politically, or theologically, or culturally. However, none of that really matters to me. These differences are superficial, and through making the effort of getting to know each other we can always reach a place of mutual understanding, mutual respect. These superficial differences between the "me" and the "not me" are really as meaningless as the differences of skin colour, eye colour, hair style and sartorial taste. When faced with absolute need and the day to day necessities of staying alive, our commonalities become very apparent. We all have in common the basic needs of survival, the emotional and psychological needs of companionship and love, the spiritual need of freedom, and freedom to express ourselves - express the legitimacy of our own existence. We are human, we are sentient, we are family. I will not abandon my family to the oppression of men with guns. I will not keep away from the danger they face, be it from uniformed men working for "Government", from ignorant and misguided people working for abstract ideas about "National Identity" or "Economic Necessity", nor from ruthless men working for criminal gangs of exploiters whose only thought is of the $'s they can make from the needs, vulnerability and hopes of others. I will share their danger, and I will share their truth...
...Insh'Allah.
More to come....
What can I say about these stalwart people from all over Europe who are living day in day out with the people who call that field of shite home? They are trying valiantly to keep them all from the edge of desperation and doing all they physically can to improve the conditions of life on the camp. The people from Aid Box Convoy (www.aidboxconvoy.org.uk), a Bristol-based group of grassroots volunteers who have been committed to working on this particular camp since October, and the independent volunteers from all over the international community living and working on camp full time, and all the people from all of the various groups around the UK (like www.lesolidarity.org among so many others) and Europe who have answered the call of the heart to do whatever they can to help in the face of this humanitarian crisis, are absolutely my heroes and my family. I love them, each and every one of them. The value of the work they are doing on the ground cannot be overstated and I have no doubt that their actions have thus far prevented many deaths, from hunger, exposure and disease, from happening over the last few months. They are overstretched, under-resourced and unsupported by any organisation, governmental or otherwise, but still they work on, doing what needs to be done in the name of the Family of Humanity. True Anarchy in action. People seeing clearly what needs to be done and just doing it, without thought of personal gain, and without waiting for permission from anyone. Just getting the job done.
After about two weeks into my trip I began to melt down. I started losing my faith and losing my ability to see the point of what I was doing there. I had a conversation with a guy called Ian, an ABC volunteer. He restored by commitment by telling me straight what we were doing. "We are injecting hope into the situation. This is not a hopeless situation". Thank you Ian. Thank you very much. You injected hope into me. I will always be indebted to you for those words.
The final thing that eventually became apparent to me in my time there was the profound truth that these people from Kurdistan (yes, that is a country, though you wont see it on any current map of the world) have so much more to offer us, in post-modern - consumerist - "God is dead" - apathetic UK, than we have to offer them. They have such a strong sense of community responsibility, such a profound respect for the privacy and sanctity of a person's home - however humble, such a strong tradition of hospitality towards strangers. These people could, and would, enrich our society with its focus on individualism and its cult of superficiality and celebrity. Sure we have much to teach them, (about environmental concerns and the silliness of sell-by dates if nothing else!) but also they have much to teach us, if only we could see it.
I hope and plan to be going back fairly soon, once I have my strength back (mental, physical, spiritual), and stay on camp until the French Establishment try to evict them. I will need to raise some money to do this as I have none and live on the benefit of benefits (what a privileged life I lead, seriously. I give thanks to That Which Is for my freedom and the access to public funds I have been granted. I try to make good use of them). I will stand with my friends (some of the people I met on camp will be friends of mine for life, whatever happens and wherever we end up). I may not see eye to eye with all of them politically, or theologically, or culturally. However, none of that really matters to me. These differences are superficial, and through making the effort of getting to know each other we can always reach a place of mutual understanding, mutual respect. These superficial differences between the "me" and the "not me" are really as meaningless as the differences of skin colour, eye colour, hair style and sartorial taste. When faced with absolute need and the day to day necessities of staying alive, our commonalities become very apparent. We all have in common the basic needs of survival, the emotional and psychological needs of companionship and love, the spiritual need of freedom, and freedom to express ourselves - express the legitimacy of our own existence. We are human, we are sentient, we are family. I will not abandon my family to the oppression of men with guns. I will not keep away from the danger they face, be it from uniformed men working for "Government", from ignorant and misguided people working for abstract ideas about "National Identity" or "Economic Necessity", nor from ruthless men working for criminal gangs of exploiters whose only thought is of the $'s they can make from the needs, vulnerability and hopes of others. I will share their danger, and I will share their truth...
...Insh'Allah.
More to come....
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