Sending aid to Syria too

The donations continued to pour in from the community – the response was just amazing.

It was wonderful how everyone stood side by side helping, united by the same cause - humanitarian aid for those so needy.

Every time I visited the storage unit it was even fuller, more donations were being dropped off day by day by the local community and other communities across the UK. 

Out of the blue we got word that one of our collaborators, Refi, from WISE (Wycombe Islamic Society) had a contact, Moazzam, who had been speaking to a charity called One Nation and had secured another 10 tonne lorry, which it was planned would take donations directly to the heart of Syria, stopping en route to drop donations at other vital locations too.

It was such an incredible opportunity, which was immediately accepted, we already knew we had more than enough donations for Calais and that providing aid directly to the most needy and vulnerable in Syria who were trapped by war was a project we would happily be involved in.

As the 9^th October drew closer and closer the 'needed items' list from the warehouse in Calais changed almost daily, which was frustrating but understandable given that donations were delivered several times a day there from many organisations and individuals.

We set about just focusing on mens warm winter clothing, waterproof outer-clothing, suitable footwear, trousers, blankets, logs, pallets, sleeping bags, tents, food parcels, bikes and mattresses. All the other items donated would go to Syria on the 25th October.

Take me with you, please?

One evening I sat at the computer, yet again seething and/or sobbing at the atrocities happening all over the planet and the inhumanity shown to those so desperately in need.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard. I took a deep breath and typed “Hi Ann, I would really love to join the volunteers on the trip to Calais if I can be of use and if there is a space in one of the vehicles for me?’

I immediately deleted the whole paragraph! What was I thinking? I couldn’t do something like this. It was scary, unknown. Dangerous??

My heart was pounding - I wanted to do this. There was nothing on the calendar, no excuse not to go. I needed to go I really HAD to go.

I retyped my message again to Ann, took a deep breath as I hit ‘send’. Then I waited for a reply. 

I changed my mind back and forward a hundred times before Ann came back to me. It was as simple as a yes or no at this stage as she was waiting for all the volunteers to come forward so that she knew  what seat space might be available. So I continued to take in more donations and attempted to educated the narrow-minded on the whole refugee issue while I waited ...



Finally, the wait was over, I got the email to say that there was a space for me on the convoy and by now I was so determined to see this load of donations across to Calais that I wasn’t faltering on my decision to go – I was going, and that was that!

I updated my FB status:-


Despite educating myself as much as is humanly possible on the Refugee crisis and harassed and bombarded all my family and friends with images, videos and pleas for donations - thank you to those who have come through and supported this - I still feel that I haven't done enough. Therefore thanks to an empty seat with my name on available on the convoy to Calais with High Wycombe - Donations for refugees and Jungle Solidarity-High Wycombe-Aylesbury-Bucks I am going over to Calais with the team and your donations to help distribute them. We'll also be working in the warehouse which is vital. Some of the team are going out for a week to build shelters too. Watch this space from 9th October for updates on our mission ...
 

Trip date announced

As the weeks sped by, the date for the Calais trip was announced - 9th to 10th October.

We had a few more weeks to get in as many donations as possible for the convoy to take them on the 9^th and there was an urgency for getting all the sorting done and a deadline was set to cease taking more donations. This, in theory, would give us time to sort the remaining items without more arriving ... deadlines were made to be broken!!

Then an incredible thing happened, word came in that we had been offered a 40 foot lorry, organised by Tiger Taxis in Wycombe, to transport all the donations to Calais. How amazing is that? This kind gesture was gratefully accepted immediately!

It now appeared that the convoy would consist of one 10 tonne lorry (just WOW!), three transit vans and several cars all going over to Calais on the 9^th October – a proper convoy of aid. It was just phenomenal.

Meeting some of the team

A couple of days later, I got word that Ann from the FB group High Wycombe– Donations for Refugees had managed to find a storage area in West Wycombe. Not a moment too soon, I can tell you! I had another fully loaded car, which I had been driving around for days as there was nowhere to unload it to (Bay Tracks Ltd by now was also full!) and there was at least one more boot-full of donations completely filling my hallway!

It was great to finally get to meet a few other members of the team when I got down to West Wycombe to drop off one (of many!!) car load of donations. I eagerly set about helping with some sorting.

The storage area was already beginning to fill up and the task of sorting was a little daunting, to say the least. I likened it to how you would feel arriving at the foot of an erupted volcano to help with the clean up operation, carrying just a dustpan and brush!

Sorting was addictive too, boxes and bags were quickly gone through and items put into labelled boxes. It gave me an enormous sense of achievement by the time I left for home - much later than I had anticipated - did I mention it was VERY addictive?!!

A few more days went by and more donations were dropped at my front door by lovely people and I delivered them down to West Wycombe.

Ann set me up as one of the High Wycombe - Donations for Refugees group Admins to help with the ever increasing number of questions and offers of donations to the group. I set about helping as much as I could around work and the family, which was frustrating as the time I had free just never seemed to be and wasn't enough.

The donations

I began to empty my own house of any useful items I could find for the inhabitants in the Calais camp and started to receive bags of clothing, food, toiletries, tents and sleeping bags from donators. All donations had to be stored in my car as its a really bad time space-wise for us right now with the garage out of action! 

At the time I didn't think this lack of space would prove an issue as there wouldn't be that much to store ... by the end of the first day I had enough items delivered to my house to fill my car twice over, at least, and with more pledges on their way ... eeeeekk!

Panic and gratitude ensued and after getting word from a friend I was very relieved to discover another local collection group Jungle Solidarity-High Wycombe-Aylesbury-Bucks who were situated just a few roads from me on Binders Yard – perfect! I contacted a guy called Tony and made arrangements to drop off the first car load; storage problem sorted.

I arrived at Bay Tracks Limited's workshop and was welcomed by Tony Sterry the owner of the business. We chatted about how we had got involved in all of this and it turns out we had pretty much put the call out to people on the very same day - mutual madness united us LOL

We unloaded my very full car into Tony’s workshop, which already had a couple of loads of donations stored, and it began to look a little ‘full’, to say the least! Not an issue said Tony, I can store some stuff at home too, no problem! 'No problem' has been a resounding phrase uttered by Tony all the way through this amazing mission, what a great guy.

How it all began

This is a little bit about my experience leading up to visiting The Jungle in Calais on 9th and 10th October 2015. I plan to go out again as soon as I am able.

This is my opinion and my views. I do not claim to represent anything or anyone.

Regarding any images in this blog I had permission for every picture I took of refugees 'posing' for me and in the instances where I could not seek permission, i.e. during our food distribution the faces of people have been obscured out of respect.

6 weeks ago ...

September 3rd 2015

I woke with a start. Checked the time, 4.30am - why always 4.30am?? It's nothing out of the ordinary for me to frequent this no-mans-land hour, which is neither night or day, but today I woke with an uneasy urgency, it felt like I was suffocating. My heart was pounding and I felt panicked.

My restless mind quickly wandered to the image of little Aylan; that tiny Syrian boy washed up on the beach in Turkey, lifeless. Tears immediate sprang from my eyes and coursed down into my ears, making the sounds around me appear under water, which just compounded the tragedy all the more.

What thoughts must have been going through his tiny infant mind? His poor mother and brother also lost to the waves, what must his Mother's last thoughts and sights have been?? All incomprehensible.  As a mother myself my train of thought running down this track was just too painful to pursue and a sob caught in my throat. I slid out of bed; it was simply too painful to continue laying there with those horrific visions playing a silent movie over and over in my head.

Dawn was beginning to break; I always love this time of year, just on the cusp of Autumn with the azure skies and still warm days. It felt good to be up at this hour, being able to enjoy the sunrise from the safety and comfort of my home, with my beautiful family innocently sleeping in their warm, comfortable beds above. I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I had been born in a safe country and had been able to raise my family without threat of bombs and fear of sniper fire. Any twist of fate and things could have very easily been so different.

I fired up the laptop with the intention of getting on with some work but, as always, was drawn to social media for ‘just a quick check to see what’s been going on ...’ !

Scrolling through posts I felt empty; I got mad at people moaning about mundane ‘issues’ - which "celebrity" was evicted last night from this or that poor excuse for an 'entertainment' programme and all the while the vision of that little boy 'sleeping' with his tiny head in the waves haunted me.

I jabbed at the keyboard – and updated my Facebook status:-

I just can't sit and watch / read / try and comprehend any more of this Refugee crisis news without doing something to help.

I am collecting donations of the items listed below [the latest list of most needed items in Calais was posted] to deliver to the camp in Calais in October.

If you have any of these items or can make up a care package of simple toiletries - please let me have them by 30th September so that I can get them ready for delivery - thank for wanting to help too ...

I snapped the laptop lid shut and I sat back. I was doing something positive, albeit a small something,  to help these poor human beings in 'the jungle' in Calais.

Within a few hours I had family and a couple of friends contacting me asking where and when they could delivery donations.

After signing up to Calais Migrant Solidarity Action From UK and announcing myself as a collector in the High Wycombe area I had loads of complete strangers contacting me too, which was amazing.

My 'journey' had begun.