17 June 2019

Hello. Long time, no writing from me. Here is what is happening in my world. I have 3 Arabic professors/teachers/tutors (whatever you want to call them). I have Arabic lessons every day of the week but lately I have had to cut out Monday because I need one day to use as a catch up with homework etc. All of my professors are from Syria. Abdulwahed is from Aleppo and lives in Istanbul, Hussein is from Latakia and lives in Minsk, Belarus and Sayib is from Damascus and lives in Istanbul. Sayib is my newest teacher. He is an old man who smokes like a chimney and plays the oud. He is one of these little old Arab men that I have always had such a soft spot for. You could just see him sitting on the side of the road, smoking his argela or shishah pipe (though I think he prefers ordinary cigarettes) with his discoloured teeth in his long flowing galabeya. Boy am I glad I don't sit in the same room as him. I lose count of how many cigarettes he smokes during our hour and half together on Skype or WhatsApp. He also plays the oud for me which I absolutely love. I just laugh and laugh during our sessions and he always text me roses after every message he sends me. Cracks me up.

I am still working for the Hertfordshire Welcomes Syrian Families charity. I helped put on a huge meal at the chapel for all the Syrians in our area back in March. It was a big event and was quite successful. I am the "translator" for the Syrian Women's group that meets fortnightly about a half an hour north of my house. I take the women from my Syrian families there in my car for lunch and the afternoon. There is usually a theme each meeting and it is always enjoyable.

I have two Syrian families that I am assigned to. One is Hussein and Sanaa who have 4 girls and a baby boy. I have gotten to know them quite well now. I take Sanaa to the women's group. I have also take her shopping for abayas (a Syrian type overcoat worn by women when they go out of the house). I have also been their translator at the Job Centre and one time at the dentist. I mostly go each week and help them with English. This family was in a refugee camp in Jordan before them came. They have never told me how long they were there, but I get the feeling, it was a long period of time. They have now been here almost a year and a half. Hussein studies English at college in St. Albans. He desperately wants to work but cannot do so without knowing English first. I have been to their house when I have seen real stress on their faces, both Sanaa and Hussein. They worry so much about how they will pay for all the expenses of life. They feel the real burden of being car-less. They find most public transportation costs here so expensive and life in general very expensive and difficult for them especially not knowing English. Sanaa has burst into tears in front of me before from the stress she feels. She desperately misses her family spread all over the world in Turkey and Germany but has no chance of seeing them with airline tickets so expensive. She told me once that if there were peace in Syria she would go back in a heart beat, her only regret would be the fantastic schools here and how much her children are learning but other than that, she felt like life here was so difficult. She commented about how she used to think that living in the West would be so amazing and easy and luxurious. She does not think that anymore. She is understanding a lot more English but is still very hesitant to speak it.

Rima and Yasser have 3 children, one boy and two girls. They are the second family I am assigned to. I have taken Rima to the women's group and was also a translator for her at an eye appointment she had. Their children had a really rough start when they arrived. They were not used to the school setting, let alone not being able to speak the language. They also had a difficult time with the food. Their youngest daughter who is 4 (turning 5 this month) stopped eating and ended up in hospital. I think the son nearly did as well. They also had a burglar break into their house after they had only been here nearly two months. It frightened the children so much that they were afraid to sleep alone in separate rooms. Rima has struggled with severe headaches since they arrived (probably due to extreme amounts of stress) and still has not been able to get rid of them even though she has seen numerous doctors. Rima is so bright though and seems to be catching on to English quickly. Her husband is the gentlest man you will ever meet. He always gently reminds Rima she is talking too fast when she speaks Arabic to me. I help them both mostly with English when I go visit them.

I love what I am doing with Arabic and that I have been able to use it so much lately. I hope there are plenty more opportunities in the future.

Update

I have not written on here in a very long time. So here goes an update for you:
I have not been to Calais for quite a while. I think the last trip was in April. I searched for months trying to find a way to help refugees closer to home. Not that I don't want to go to Calais but going every month is a lot. So after searching and searching, I came across a new charity in my own county that is specifically for welcoming Syrian families. I could not believe it. Working directly with Syrians has been my dream. I sadly, never met any Syrians in Calais in all the times I volunteered there. So I signed up with the charity and became a member. They immediately paired me up with a family with 4 daughters from Syria who has been here since April. The mother does not speak any English and they want me to help her learn some. So I went to a training two weeks ago in London on teaching English to adult refugees. It was helpful but actually what will be more helpful is knowing what I have done in all my Arabic lessons over the past 3 years - just reverse them to English. Two days ago, I went to finally meet the family who only lives 10-15 minutes from my house. The mother and her 4 daughters were there with her brand new baby boy (born 25 days ago). She spoke very little English and seem so happy to be able to speak to an English speaking person in her native language. I thoroughly enjoyed myself speaking to her in Arabic. She told me that were in a refugee camp for a few years in Jordan before moving here. Her husband takes English classes and her children are all going to school here and slowly learning English. I felt like we could be friends. I know she is very tired from having just had a new baby and taking care of 4 other children. She told me her children's school is a half hour walk from their house, which means an hour round trip. That is very difficult for her. I was with them for only an hour but found it difficult to tear myself away. I wasn't nervous about speaking Arabic with them at all, like I thought I would be. All the recent years of study really paid off for me. When I went to bed that night, I fell asleep immediately, only to wake up at 1am having Arabic conversations in my head for two hours and not able to sleep. I guess it really got the juices flowing. I loved it.

April Convoy to Calais

Saturday, 14 April 2018 saw me on another convoy to Calais, France to volunteer with the refugees there.  We met at my house at 4:30am waited around for Jenn who got stuck in road closures and arrived at 5am. Had only an hour and 10 minutes to make an hour and 45 minute drive to where we were supposed to meet all the volunteers. I am proud to say while reaching speeds exceeding 90 miles an hour, we made it in the allotted time! Lets just pray no speed cameras caught me and there is a lovely speeding ticket in the post on the way to my house. This trip we were joined by my new friend Durdana from the London Colney mosque and her husband, friends and family (5 in all). Their mosque donated £300 in cash a few days before we left. All the cash was handed over to me, which filled me with all kinds of stress to make sure the money was used in the best way possible. I ended up messaging the aid organization in Calais and found out they needed sleeping bags, tents, baby milk and nappies most urgently. Only having £300 to spend, I decided to focus on the baby items and a kind friend volunteered to go clear the shelves of Tesco for me and purchase all of the nappies and baby milk (about £150 worth). We used another £100 for water (because there are still no public water taps in the new jungle where people are sleeping rough and they are still desperate for clean drinking water). The last £50 I spent on facial scrub, masks, lotions, creams, and nail files for the women.

I had already collected loads of stationery, markers, crayons, colouring books, play dough, card games, cricket equipment and more for the last trip we were supposed to take in March that got cancelled due to inclement weather. I was all set on Friday (the day before our scheduled trip) when I received a call from my friend Durdana who announced to me that she had another £418 from the mosque! I was amazed! I had no idea how I could go out and spend that kind of money so quickly and if I would even have room in the boot of my car to hold much more, so I decided to use the money for our next trip. However, two hours later, I received a message from our coordinators in Kent saying that a camp had been dismantled the night before and they were in desperate need of tents and sleeping bags for 40-50 people. We immediately got online and started comparing tent prices in the UK and France to use the £418 to buy tents. We decided to buy the tents in France upon our arrival. When we met up with Durdana, she actually had collected more money Friday evening for a total of £478! We were able to buy 30 tents from two shops in France and even got a 15% discount for such a large purchase.

We met up with our group of 13 and took the ferry to France. On the ferry, we came up with our 1st plan of action (it changed several times after that) splitting the group to go buy tents at a possible two locations (in case they didn't have enough tents on hand at one location as I stated above) and then another group to buy several trolleys of water and the last group to head off to the sports hall where many of the refugees have been living for the past four months. (To our surprise, the refugees had not been kicked out of the sports hall in March like they planned because the French government did not know what to do with them so they have extended their stay).

I walked into the sports hall where the women and children and families are living still at the moment and I was shocked to see how overcrowded it had become since I had been there last in January. I thought it was crowded in January as the last space of floor was taken by a new family while I was there. However, this time it was so crowded that the large tables that had been in the room previously that we had done crafts on were no where to be found. There was absolutely no room for them. There were tiny narrow walk ways between each family dwelling still walled off by the cots turned sideways and used as walls like last time. The air in the large gymnasium seemed stale and stifling from so many crammed into one space. We were told later that the other gymnasium where only men slept was so unhygienic from men sleeping in it for the past four months and no formal cleaning that it was rampant with scabies (and who knows what else). Men were moving out by the dozens and complaining of itching all over their bodies. Most likely a simple cure is available for such a condition if you had access to a medical facility but I doubt that is the case with these unfortunates. I wondered if the government was not taking advantage of the non-hygienic situation to get the men out.

We spoke to one man who said that a bunch of the families were going to take advantage of the nice weather and were all going to the new jungle. We decided to meet them there since there was no space to do our activities. However, a few children were begging us to come back so we promised we would in an hour or two and headed off to the new jungle, happy to be outside.

When we got to the new jungle area where many of the refugees sleep and live, we were surprised by the numbers. We drove up and my car was immediately swarmed by 20 or more refugees wondering what gifts we had brought. Unfortunately, we could not start handing out the tents that we bought for fear of mobbing and a frenzy taking place. We decided to give the tents to another aid organization that came to the jungle daily and knew of the people with the greatest needs. We set up our gazebo, table and camp stove and began preparing tea and biscuits as well as a craft table for children. I handed out play dough to very excited children as well as a few scooters and a skateboard that was donated to us. Other volunteers got out skipping ropes, footballs and cricket equipment.

After some litter picking and a few crafts, we headed back to the sports hall to keep our promise to the children stuck inside for the day. The gymnasium was very quiet with most families in the jungle for the afternoon. Only a few women and children remained. Another volunteer and I began handing out crafts, colouring, games and play dough to the children, who swarmed around us trying to grab everything. I didn't judge them or blame them for this. They are in such desperate circumstances that if you don't fight for what you want, you will get nothing. I handed out all of the items in our bag and wasn't sure what to do next since there were no tables to sit at to properly help with colouring and crafts. I grabbed the bag of facial scrubs, masks and creams etc and began handing one or two to each woman. I handed one to an old woman who had quietly observed us handing out activities to the children. She looked at it strangely and politely gave it back with a big toothless smile on her face (she only had about 4 teeth). She quickly began reaching into a box behind her wanting to offer me something. She gave me and the other volunteer each an orange. She was Kurdish so I was unable to speak to her at all but I felt her kindness and love to give what she had to me as a gesture of appreciation for what I was doing. I then moved on giving out more facial scrubs when I came upon another old woman sitting with 4 boys ages 6-12 and a young girl. Three of the boys were playing the UNO game I had just given them and one of the boys was putting together a cardboard sports car kit I had handed out and needed my help. I sat down on the blanket of the family's little walled off space and began helping the boy. I was so happy to see them using the items I had just handed out and not just throwing them into a corner. After helping the boy finish his car, I decided to teach the boys how to play a different silly game (other than the official one) with the UNO cards. They quickly caught on and were laughing and slapping themselves from the silly game. I then got out some face cards and taught them two more games. However, I quickly realized that they were unfamiliar with the numbers. So I showed them the order including the ace at the beginning and the Jack, Queen, King at the end. After only a few more rounds, they quickly caught on to those games as well and even started beating me (and I won't lie, I am pro at these games). I had so much fun with them and felt really good about teaching them so many new games that they could play in the long hours of the boring days ahead. I was so happy to leave them with the UNO cards and a few decks of playing cards and picture them teaching all the boys and maybe even adults in the coming days and getting a bit of enjoyment and distraction from them. Even their grandmother or whoever the old woman was that was sitting with them was finding a lot of joy in watching us all play. In fact, when it was time for us to head back to the jungle and meet back up with the rest of our group, I couldn't tear myself away. I kept saying, "one more game, one more game." That was probably the highlight of my whole day playing games with those boys for an hour or two. It was so simple but I really felt like it made a difference in their lives and will continue to for a little while to entertain them. Even their little sister was catching on to the games by the time I left.

On the way home and since then I have felt the importance of spending time with those around me especially my own children and how giving them my full attention is so important. I am so grateful for this experience. It was crazy because our plan throughout the day changed multiple times trying to juggle who would ride in what car and purchase what items and go to help refugees in what place. We all just went with the flow and worked together, that way everything we wanted to accomplish got done and the day turned out perfect!

January Convoy to Calais, France

Picture me in France on a grey, rainy, cold day in a sports hall in an unremarkable neighbourhood of Calais. Lunch has just been served and the queues are gone, stomachs full and the medium sized auditorium with its shiny vinyl floor is full of Iraqi families with children running about between the bedding. I sit at a table surrounded by various children enjoying the play dough we brought, colouring or painting and lovely Iraqi mothers, make-up done, hair arranged, clothed in lovely scarves and bright coloured dresses sit with pride in chairs just behind and around the children at the table chatting to one another and to me. This was me on Saturday helping the children with their various crafts while speaking to the most friendly group of Iraqi women I have yet had a chance to meet. They all seemed so pleased to hear me speaking Arabic and I was so pleased to be speaking Arabic to them. When I didn't understand or know a word they would think of everything they could to help me. Never discouraging or mocking but polite and helpful.  One more would pull up a chair as she heard that a volunteer spoke Arabic and wanted to hear it for herself and see that I not only was speaking but also understanding what they said.

One woman Bahr (she told me her name meant Spring in Kurdish and I reminded her it meant the beach in Arabic) heard about me as another woman called to her. She came over greeting me with a big smile, happy to communicate and tell me who she was. She seemed to have a real need for this communication since she neither spoke English or French. She had been educated in Syria when she was younger. She was Kurdish, Iraqi. She told me she had been traveling for two years. She showed me a picture of her home in Iraq that looked quite inviting and how it was now destroyed. She told me of her journey across the sea from Turkey to Greece and showed me a picture of her on one of those rafts you see on the nightly news overflowing with too many people. Yes, the one she pointed to was indeed her. She is single with no husband and no children and traveling through country after country with nothing. She wanted to show me that she was skilled. She had worked in a salon doing hair, nails, etc. She made her way to her corner of the room and returned to me with thread around her neck. She cocked my head upward and went straight to work. She threaded my upper lip and got rid of every last hair working so quickly and smoothing as she somehow miraculously twisted the thread around each blonde hair and gently yanked it out. She didn't laugh at me when my eyes flowed with tears, instead worry on her face drove her back to her corner where she grabbed me some tissues. We spoke of our love of Arabic music. I sang to her and the other women the songs by Fairuz I just learned from my Arabic tutor two weeks before. The women smiled and joined in singing with me. So many smiles and instant love and respect reciprocated. I showed them pictures of my four daughters at home. They all looked surprised and congratulated me. They then each took turns showing me their children and telling me their ages. We got on FaceBook and I typed in my name for them so they could see my profile and home page. We connected as friends. I loved them all instantly. I got out a big bag of finger nail polish we all looked at each colour and they pointed out the ones they liked and I gave them each some. Then they told me how they can only stay at this sports hall for a total of 2 months. They have already been there since the middle of December. What will become of them after that? They gestured to the windows and said they will sleep outside with looks of worry on their faces. My heart sank. Who could do it? Who could kick these lovely women with so much to offer out on the street with their children and families?

It was interesting to me as I glanced around the gymnasium/auditorium that the cots the families were provided to sleep on were instead turned on their sides and used as low walls to cordon off a space for each family. They preferred to sleep on blankets on the floor and have their own space (however small) claimed. As I sat there, another family arrived looking shattered and took the last remaining space on the floor. Now the entire auditorium full of families with their walled off family spaces. There was little space for children to run or play.

Later that day, we went over to the "jungle" where mostly men are sleeping out rough in the woods at the moment in temperatures below zero on most days especially at night. We did some chatting there and then set to work picking up litter. I was so struck to go into the woods and find a pile of rubbish with little plastic toys, used nappies, markers, women's boots and clothes, a man's coat, blankets and food wrappers. I thought as I picked up each article from the pile one by one - who were these people? They were clearly living here with a baby and possibly a small child. Did they leave in a hurry? Is that why so much was left behind? How long had they lived this way? How did they keep those little ones warm at night? Where are they now?  What a difficult scene that was to see and clean up. I was distracted as a refugee man came through and began speaking with my friend and I about his journey and years as a refugee and his only desire to join his son in England. His wife left him long ago. He still got the occasional chat with his son though and for that he was very grateful to his estranged wife. He spoke six languages and said his plan was that he will never give up. He repeated it over and over.

Earlier that day, people in the jungle were still desperate for water due to the public water main still shut off by the local authority. Part of our group went to the nearest supermarket and bought 800 2-litre bottles of water filling our giant van to the ceiling and handed out every last one peacefully and with grateful smiles and shiny eyes.

Earlier that day, we witnessed a large group of refugee men like gazelles run after a lorry or semi-truck almost effortlessly as the lorry driver clearly tried to get away as fast as possible. We saw the remaining few men jump up as the lorry tried to speed up even more and saw the back door swing open with gusto from the men so desperate for a way to the U.K. I was so involved in the scene in front of me that I hardly saw the annoyed police van behind me trying to go after them. The police, after finally getting around my car, sped by and caught up to the lorry checking carefully for no stow-aways. 

That morning, I was pleasantly surprised at the joy I felt as I worked in the warehouse doing monotonous jobs in the kitchen - chopping carrots and celery in massive assembly lines of volunteers all so incredibly efficient and organized. I felt more joy as I helped wrap the individual vegetable soup bowls with clear plastic wrap and plopped a stack of bread on top with a spoon picturing a hungry man digging in and devouring it all. I stacked each bowl with its pile of bread into crates to be taken out in vans in an hour or two to feed all these people who depended on this food so much. When my team leader arrived in the kitchen because it was time for us to go, I could hardly tear myself away - another minute - one more bowl to wrap - one more stack of bread - one more mouth to feed.  This was my day in Calais. It is with much mixed emotions that I tell you about it.

Our whole group of volunteers with a few Iraqis thrown in for fun.

Iraqi men under our gazebo drawing

John Travolta sleeping rough in Calais? Who knew?

Three trolleys full of water

One large van completely full of water

Looking a bit plump with my chef blacks over my big coat but I was warm. Getting ready to prepare lunch for 3000 refugees. 

Waiting in the lobby of the sports hall for the refugee families to finish their lunch so we can go in and play with them.

The drawings and writings of refugee men

Drawings and writings of refugee men

The drawings and writings of refugee men

Bahr doing what she does best and boy did her eye brows look amazing. We had no idea we would get beauty treatments! 

A man from our group hard at working chopping celery. 

December Convoy to Calais

I travelled to Calais, France on 15 December for this month's convoy to help the refugees there. We brought with us £3000 worth of sleeping bags (pictured above) from the money we raised from our winter sleepover (1 December). We also brought 200 brand new winter coats originally £75 but marked down to £16. What a deal! Before we went, we heard that the Cold Law in France had kicked in because temperatures had gotten low enough that all homeless and refugees were supposed to be given shelter. I then wondered if there was any point in going if they were all taken care of so I went back and forth trying to decide whether or not to go. Thursday afternoon, the day before I decided I would go. I am sure glad I did too. The Cold Law had taken effect but it did not give shelter to all refugees. Refugees told us they had gone to the shelter and were turned away and told there was no room. So, there were still an alarming number of people sleeping rough in the woods. The other alarming thing was that in the area where they were sleeping and living, there had been running water (I saw them using these taps in October when I was there) however, the local authority had now shut off those taps with the idea being that no one should be sleeping rough because of the Cold Law being in effect.  So these people were begging us for water. Fortunately, we had brought a lot of bottled water to make tea for them. We conserved a few bottles for tea and gave out the rest. It was so heartbreaking though to tell so many people we had run out and had no more water. As it was getting darker and colder and I had poured the last of our tea, one woman from our group, ran to the nearby shops and bought enough bottled water to fill her car. As we waited for her, we stood with the refugees in the cold and rain around a fire that they tried to keep going by putting some kind of wool, synthetic blanket on to burn. It stunk so bad but it burned pretty well. My face, hands and toes were freezing from being outside all day.  I could not imagine having to deal with that all night and if I could find a place to sleep that wasn't muddy. When the woman from our group returned with the water, all the refugees had disbursed and seemed to be gone. We were not sure what to do with the water. So we decided to drive back to the wooded area where they had all been drinking tea and standing around the fire. There were still a handful of people there. We stopped and started handing out water and from out of no where loads more people came wanting the water. Having access to clean drinking water has got to be a human right. As I am lying here on my sofa with a thick, warm blanket over me looking at my Christmas tree and all the decorations and thinking about yesterday, I think how wrong it would be for me to ever complain about what I have. How could I complain that my house isn't big enough or fancy enough? Or that I don't have a nicer car etc. These people have nothing.  

This is a picture of two men from our group helping sort clothes at the warehouse in Calais. The warehouse also has a large kitchen where they make food for the refugees each day. It is run by a French charity but is mostly staffed by volunteers from the UK and some other European countries. There are several of these warehouses in the area run by various charities. 

We were supposed to meet some volunteers at another warehouse in Dunkirk to give them half of the sleeping bags we brought. Things got a bit mixed up and they didn't show but we found about six refugees sleeping in two tents near the warehouse who we gave sleeping bags to. They were Kurds from Iraq and were very grateful. We hung out with them for a while and made them some tea and set up our new basketball game to play with them in the road. I spoke Arabic to them and asked them to only speak Arabic to me. They did. It was really fun. Of course, they were quite amused with my Arabic which is a very typical response I always get. I don't mind making people laugh when I speak my silly Arabic to them. They seem so pleased to just speak to someone in a familiar language. 

This is me and Reg (a volunteer from our group). We were freezing and tried to huddle together a bit while we ate our lunch. He gave me the white hat I am wearing because the hat I had on previously was rubbish. 

The black packs wrapped in clear plastic are the new coats we brought down. 

Here are the Iraqi Kurds who were living near the warehouse in Dunkirk who we gave the sleeping bags to.  We charged all of their mobile phones in our car, gave them tea and biscuits, played basketball with them  and laughed a lot together. They became our friends. I spoke Syrian Arabic to them but they understood it. I was able to use a bunch of lines on them from a Syrian TV series I am watching with one of my Arabic tutors. They laughed and laughed that I knew some of those phrases. 

These boxes are full of the sleeping bags we brought down. We unloaded them into the warehouse in Calais. It felt really good knowing I helped raise money to buy them. 

Here are my Iraqi friends again. I was trying to get someone else to come into the picture with us. Two of these guys weren't even wearing socks (the two guys on the right). I put on my thickest socks that morning and just after a few hours out in the cold my toes were frozen. The guy nearest me on my right, his shoes didn't even fit. His heels came out over the edge crushing the back of the shoe. We gave them all warm hats, wish I could have given them some decent shoes and socks too. 

This massive pile of clothes at the warehouse in Calais was a bit shocking to me. These are all the clothes and blankets that are unusable. People are very generous but many times, they are mostly just cleaning out their closets and giving their rubbish or unsuitable clothes to the refugees. It takes a lot of man power to sort through these mountains of clothes and such a shame that so many cannot be used. The volunteers at this warehouse had an all night clothes sorting party the night before we got there. We always load up all the unwanted clothes in our vans on our way back to the UK. The clothes are then taken to a place that weighs them and pays for them by weight. This is how they bought the 200 brand new coats from the money from the recycled clothes. So I guess in a round about way they unwanted clothes still benefit but it is a lot of work and man hours. One volunteer explained to us that refugees have only one thing left and that is their dignity. They do not want to be seen in rags. They want clothes without rips and stains. Anything that is ripped or stained is thrown out. He also said that many of the refugees are young and are still into fashion and want to look good. The other problem is that most refugees are small and large size clothes just do not fit. Another volunteer mentioned how on other trips she noticed how clean and presentable many of the refugees looked. However, that was not the case this time, we saw plenty of grubby faces and mud stained clothes. 

Here is the fire in the middle of what they call the "new Jungle." It is a large wooded area where many of the refugees hang out in the day and sleep. I don't think they really sleep at night. It is too cold. They mostly need to keep moving at night. I think most sleeping goes on in the day or morning hours. We did go over to the sports hall where a bunch of them were being housed especially the families. I went in and did origami with an 8 year old girl and her little sister. We made a dinosaur and an elephant for her. I brought a table tennis set and we played that as well. When it was time for me to go, she gathered up all my origami and table tennis stuff without my even asking and gave it back to me.  I thought about just leaving it but I took it home because without someone to do it with her, the origami set would go to waste. I can also bring the table tennis next time too. 

In the early evening, I mentioned that we were at the "new Jungle" handing out tea and bottled water. A volunteer in our group brought this tea pot. I was so thrilled. It is exactly like the tea pot in a Syrian TV series I am watching. I was asking everyone if they wanted hot, steaming tea (just like in the show) and that this cup of tea would be the sweetest and best tea they would ever have in the whole world. 

 بدك تشرب شاي بخاراحسن شاي بكل العالم

Calais Curry

This is a recipe for the curry that we usually eat when we go and volunteer in Calais.  It is made in the warehouse and then a van takes it out to as many refugees as possible. Volunteers are allowed to have some as well and sometimes we have eaten our curry side by side the refugees. It tastes amazing after getting up at 3am driving two hours to France and working all day with whatever activities we are doing with the refugees that day. We normally eat it at the very end of our day around 5-6pm. I devour it. It is so good. I finally acquired one of the recipes.

The quantities are all a guess so you can adjust them as you like.  So fry onion for a bit then add lots of garlic and ginger. Add a bit of coriander seed. Then added red lentils (I add about a cup). Stir for a minute or so. Add mild curry powder (a lot)(I also use curry paste), stir, then added chopped potato, tin of tomatoes (that's a can), fill the tin with water and add it, 4-5 bay leaves, 5 dried mushrooms, 1 tin of coconut milk, cook for 5 then add black eyed beans, cook for another 10 then add cauliflower and cook for another 10. Add loads of chopped coriander. salt and pepper. You may need to add more water but wait until lentils and potatoes are cooked before adding as they asorb quite a bit. Serve with rice. Enjoy! 

Winter Sleep Out on Behalf of Refugees

I did it and I survived. I slept outside on December 1st to raise money for refugees living in Calais with nothing. The two camps that have been there in the past have both been demolished and now the refugees in Calais are living in the woods of an industrial area of Calais. They have no sanitation, no toilets...nothing. The French police are always taking their blankets, tents and even shoes to try and get them to move on. So 1 December the men and women that I normally go to Calais with all decided to do a winter sleep out. We slept in one of the volunteer's back garden. It was very close to 0 degrees Celsius. The weather forecast said it felt like -1 Celsius.  I wore about six layers of clothing and socks. The week leading up to the sleep out, I really began to panic and wonder how I would get through it. The night before the sleep out, I really appreciated my bed like never before. Now I appreciate its softness, warmth and roominess like never before. Here are a few volunteers bundled up sitting around the fire.    

This is my friend Jenn (in the sleeping bag). She is being tucked in by a man named Reg. It was so difficult getting in your sleeping bag when you had so many layers and a coat on. Some people even kept their boots on inside their bag. Our bags were also inside these large plastic bags to keep the water and mud off. We slept on cardboard. Someone had to literally help you in and pull the bag up. Many of us including me had extra blankets shoved into our bags so that added more difficulty in getting into the cocoon. Once you were in, there was no getting out unless you have a weak bladder like me and drank too much hot chocolate and had to get up twice in the night. I was wearing so many pairs of socks, I couldn't fit my feet into my shoes. If you managed to find my shoes, then with them half on, you had to navigate your way around all the other cocoons of sleepers while also trying to avoid the muddy patches. At least, we had an indoor toilet. However, lets not even talk about the difficulties in the toilet with all those layers....people described the whole experience as a lot of work......so true! 

Here I am, just half way into my bag. I ended up being pretty warm but thought how lucky I was because I know refugees mostly just have the clothes on their backs. They don't have expensive, thick thermals and coats like I did. My biggest problem was the hardness of the ground. My hips and back hurt by the end of the night. In fact, I woke up around 4am and just couldn't bare lying down on the hardness anymore. I did catch an hour of sleep here and there between potty breaks and re-positioning myself inside the cocoon. My friend next to me suffered from freezing feet all night long. When we were rolling up our bags in the morning, she realized her bag had a bottom vent that was open. She suffered all night. Poor thing! 

Here is one sleeper. I don't even know who. Once you were in your cocoon, you could only see a tiny portion of most people's faces or no face at all if they were buried inside. Many people complained of cold noses. The man that was with us began snoring in the middle of the night and was immediately banished to inside, that is after he was everyone's slave for an hour getting us various items because we were already stuck and tucked in our bags. 

Here is the whole crew at breakfast the next morning feeling pretty proud of ourselves but a bit shattered. 

We ended up raising nearly £3000  and I personally brought in £420. However, donations are still being taken until we go on our convoy on 15 December so we may even have more by then. I was so surprised that I raised so much. I put my goal as £50 and ended up well over that. So exciting! 

We had LIVE Facebook broadcasts every hour throughout the evening and were followed by some Syrian refugees in Paris. They told us how grateful they were for our efforts. That felt good. I said a few words to thank them in Arabic. 

The woman that opened up her house and back garden to us also made us this wonderful curry that is served a lot to the refugees in Calais. Through all the trips I have made to help the refugees, I have developed some life long friends. I have met some of the best people ever who are regular volunteers and we have so much fun together. I love hanging out with them all. Now we all need to figure out what exactly we will be buying to haul over and give out to the refugees on the 15th. I look forward to each and every trip. One last thought: I currently have 4 Arabic tutors I study with every week. 3 of the 4 are Syrian refugees. They have all become my friends but one man in particular, who is my favourite tutor of all has become a really good friend. Many times, after our Arabic session, he calls his wife and daughter and baby son over and we all chat for a half hour. I have recorded Sammy and Alex reading various children's stories in English and sent them for his five year old daughter who is learning English.  I have really grown to love them. One day when we were chatting, I had the overwhelming feeling that he is my brother. I am so grateful to know such great, humble people who enrich my life so much. It has taught me not to see refugees are simply that, they are human beings and have so much to offer. They have sadly just been uprooted and displaced but it does not define them. Besides, it could be me one day.