Met down in the lobby with our bags and waited for the rest of the team - Ben appeared and Ann, then Fouzia. Gayle and Louisa were going straight to the jungle so weren't coming to the warehouse.
Got to the warehouse and joined in with a great French guy who led us through some limbering up exercises ready for a busy day ahead! It was really good fun and the weather was being very kind to us again, lots of lovely sunshine and blue sky.
On a Saturday there is usually a big influx of volunteers and also donations therefore they tend to use the more experienced volunteers to go out into the camp and distribute items.
Ann was particularly keen on being involved with the food bag distribution; she and other members of the team had taken a long time making these up and there were around 100 to hand out - that's dedication.
Ann and myself were very keen to distribute food in the camp, Ann especially as she had been the driving force behind the huge stock of individual food parcels that our volunteers had made up ready to be handed out.
We were keen to get to the warehouse in time for the delegation of 'tasks' for volunteers as we did not want to miss out on being picked for the food distribution team.
Group talk and then hands-up for allocated tasks - quite a few of us put our hands up for the food distribution, I was really glad Ann was chosen and hoped that I could take part too as I wanted to photograph the team handing out the food parcels but it wasn't too clear to begin with if there were too many of us keen to be involved in this task. Although I would have been disappointed not to have been able to go and distribute I had been very fortunate with my unplanned trip into the camp yesterday and I would happily have worked at the warehouse instead of going in again. Numbers of volunteers were counted up and, again, I was fortunate to be going back to the camp.
After a concise but important lesson on how best to conduct a distribution exercise successfully, we loaded up Ann's van with all of our food parcels, plus lots of indivdual bottles of oil which we would hand out to each person along with a food parcel. There were also other prepacked food parcels brought in by other groups so we added these to our load and headed off with one of the long-term volunteers and several of our team plus others in the back of the van to the camp.
A very experienced volunteer called Olivia (I think!) took us into the jungle - we had to visit the port again as the police still had the slip roads on lockdown but no hysterical laughing this time, we were seasoned navigators of the port!! Big shout out to Google maps sat nav, we really couldn't have found anything without it (my navigation is pants!)
Again the police had the main exit blocked so we had to go the long way around via the port (Ann's favourite place!!!), in a convoy, which was quite amusing!!
Our experienced distribution volunteer ably directed us to the back entrance of the camp and we pulled up in a clear area ready to begin.
We jumped down from the front cab and opened the back of the van to let the others out. Instantly loads of refugees began running in our direction - 'LINE, LINE, LINE' was ordered and they immediately fell silently into an expectant line, not even sure what they were queuing up for but in desperate times anything is worth lining up for in the hope it will benefit you and/or your family.
An excited buzz ran through the line as the first of the food parcels were pulled from the van and handed out - food - always a sought after commodity. The overwhelming thing I will always remember about this part of the trip was the heartfelt gratitude from each and every one of the people - mainly men - that we handed aid to. Their nodding thanks and resounding words 'Sank-yoo, sank-yoo, sank-yoo' rang in my ears for a long time after the event, it was extremely humbling.
A few families came to the side of the van and waited for their food parcels - families with children tend to be excused from the line by the other refugees as do elderly and infirm and lone children.
The cheeky scamps on their bikes arrived and acknowledging thanks they hung their carrier bag food parcel on their handlebars and rode off to their 'home' in the jungle.
As I turned to hand over another parcel, out of a cloud of dust a tiny girl was running toward me. Her long dark hair bouncing with curls and a broad smile across her pretty face - that moment plays in my mind often - she came up to me, holding out her hands for her parcel. I handed her a bag and she struggled to carry it way but was determined to, despite her father arriving to offer to help her - it was a defiant "I can do it!" moment.
As they walked away I noticed the line was now so long that you could not see the end of it.
Supplies began to dwindle and it there was a sudden realisation that hardly anyone had actually been helped by the distribution in the grand scheme of things, a drop in the ocean, it was quite depressing.
The refugees began in realise that the food parcels were running out and they surged forward a little, breaking line until a crowd was looming down on the volunteers at the back of the van - we managed to hold them back from the doors and in the van Ann found some single bags of rice and some cartons of juice, which we also handed out until they also had all gone.
After a while the refugees realised for sure that there was no more aid in the van and slowly dispersed. It was more than heartbreaking that we didn't have enough for everyone, we tried to console ourselves with the fact that we had fed some, at least, and that the very few children that we gave parcels too would eat today.
We were conscious of the time; our Eurotunnel departure was about 2pm so we all went back to the warehouse to try and make contact with the other members of the team and make one final trip into the camp to hand out individual items such as hand-cream, Vaseline, garlic, playing cards and sweets for the kids.
The wonderful children's gift boxes that Shaida and her lovely band of volunteers had made up for us to take and hand out were taken in by Refi and his friends.
As we wandered along the back road of the camp we stopped and chatted to people going by. Asking them if they would like cream for them skin and Vaseline for their hair. We gave fudge and chocolate bars to the kids and other people, all them time they were so grateful for everything we had to given them, no matter how small.
Just as we were nearing the end of our time, we remembered that we had to find a new owner for 'Floppsy' - Floppsy was a little cuddly toy rabbit that had been given to our team by a man called Ben. Ben and his team of aid collectors had come down from Yorkshire with two transit vans full of donations of tents, sleeping bags and food. Ben handed over Floppsy to Claire and explained that he was taking part in Project Paddington (more about this on another page) and the rabbit was a favourite toy of his daughter, Georgia, who would like it to be given to a refugee child.
We quickly looked around for a child to pass Floppsy on to but none were around, we walked up the road a little further and into view came a father holding the hand of a small child. We ran up to them and explained as best we could to the father that a little girl in the UK wanted to give her favourite toy to a child there and would his daughter like to take care of Floppsy? The little girl took the rabbit and hugged it tight, Floppsy had found a new loving owner - emotionally we watched as they all walked away, the little girl swinging Floppsy by one ear!
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