Manter
Lunch Mob
Log in to Facebook | Facebook
Does this work?
Does this work?
Calais people to people solidarity: action from the UK
- Thread starter Geri
- Start date
Manter
Lunch Mob
That works for me even though the link says login. Takes me to the right place
tony.c
Well-Known Member
Yes
tony.c
Well-Known Member
I think I'm permanently logged into Facebook - have to keep an eye on what my niece is up to.That works for me even though the link says login. Takes me to the right place
tony.c
Well-Known Member
According to Wikipedia, Medecins Sans Frontieres was originally set up by French doctors who left the International Committee of the Red Cross because of the restrictions and mandates imposed by the Red Cross.
Bernard Kouchner was one of the co-founders of MSF, but in 1980 he left them to set up Medecins Du Monde with 15 other French physicians because they felt that MSF had given up 'witnessing', ie aid workers making atrocities they observed known to the public.
Haven't caught up with anything other than how many bin bags can fit in one garden over the last fortnight.that includes other groups I desperately need to contact,nationally and locally,and catch up with wishlists and current urgent needs,as well as trying to coordinate with establised groups for transport and distribution. SpookyFrank - I know you're busier than me,but check your pm's,duck (oh the ironic deliciousness of saying that x)
Ta! Xxx
Ta! Xxx
Manter
Lunch Mob
That's interesting thx. Their website talks about them forming as a response to the treatment of aids patients. Or lack of treatment for aids patients!
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Medecins du monde have been working in Calais since long before the words 'refugee crisis' became fashionable. As I understand it they're more willing than MSF to put themselves in places where governments don't want them to be.
Manter
Lunch Mob
I think they do different things too- not sure MdM could have run something like the Ebola response, for example, whereas MsF got involved earlier and did more than almost any other body. But MdM are better at fast deployment and using some of the existing mechanisms. For example in Calais one of their biggest functions is taking people to hospital and managing to get them care- for broken bones etc- that they *technically* are not entitled to. It's one of the reasons they are asking for French speakers only in Calais. (A mate of mine who volunteers for MsF contacted MdM- he is on his way to Lebanon with MSF now)
Interestingly for me, as a passionate atheist who can get quite ranty about religion in general and Catholicism in particular, the charities that have been there forever and are making most difference are Catholic foundations. I am having to eat humble pie a bit
My professional body's website has a piece about a mental health worker going over to Calais in a convoy with stand up to racism. She describes her experience and then at the end suggests people volunteer or donate. She does say make sure you don't just go over and ask organisations what is needed, but gives the impression that there is little organisation, that existing organisations aren't able to distribute to meet need, and I'm not sure the message is strong enough that aid should go through organisations on the ground, and she doesn't say who they are. I feel I should post some up to date advice in the comments section but not sure what exactly given so much is going on. Not everyone who reads it will be facebook users.
Any advice about advice to give?
Any advice about advice to give?
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
I think they do different things too- not sure MdM could have run something like the Ebola response, for example, whereas MsF got involved earlier and did more than almost any other body. But MdM are better at fast deployment and using some of the existing mechanisms. For example in Calais one of their biggest functions is taking people to hospital and managing to get them care- for broken bones etc- that they *technically* are not entitled to. It's one of the reasons they are asking for French speakers only in Calais. (A mate of mine who volunteers for MsF contacted MdM- he is on his way to Lebanon with MSF now)
Interestingly for me, as a passionate atheist who can get quite ranty about religion in general and Catholicism in particular, the charities that have been there forever and are making most difference are Catholic foundations. I am having to eat humble pie a bit
Everyone makes stuff up as they go along in Calais tbh. And MdM have been very good at that. They're generally happy to talk with us mad anarchists and various other people about what priorities should be and how resources can be put to best use. Not enough nice things to say really, if anyone wants to give money to a 'legitimate organisation' to help people in Calais I always point them in the direction of MdM.
Manter
Lunch Mob
She is right- it is chaotic and there are real bottlenecks in distribution. But that's because the people who have been there for years set up a process that worked with the trickle of aid they had coming. They are now dealing with a flood. They are adapting- a new warehouse comes online in about three weeks, there are bigger more effective plans coming on line.... But they are being delayed by well meaning people turning up and causing chaos which they they have to clear up! People who turn up and think they can do better without a real understanding of the issues (different nationalities in the camp, and their relationships, attitude of the French police, what the mairie will provide or tolerate etc) are causing real problems.
People wanting to help should start with secours or l'auberge http://www.laubergedesmigrants.fr Secours Catholique – Caritas France and they can refer on. There are other Facebook contacts, amazing volunteers on the ground, but they are often drowning and answering emails at 2am so anything we can do to reduce the burden on them the better.
Edit- redcat
People wanting to help should start with secours or l'auberge http://www.laubergedesmigrants.fr Secours Catholique – Caritas France and they can refer on. There are other Facebook contacts, amazing volunteers on the ground, but they are often drowning and answering emails at 2am so anything we can do to reduce the burden on them the better.
Edit- redcat
Manter
Lunch Mob
Don't get me wrong, I am a huge supporter of the grassroots stuff going on. But I know that lots of the CSR restrictions say registered charity.... So I have a couple of contacts who can't donate to a crowd funded campaign on tents, though they want to.
Thanks Manter. That was my understanding but wanted some clarification from someone more in the know rather than trying to make sense of hundreds of facebook posts. I was thinking of recommending L'auberge. Will also recommend donations to MdM.
I was going to do a workplace collection myself but have put it off for the moment due to the chaos reported.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Some of the charities are saying that they're not asking for volunteers in Calais because they simply don't have time to train them. But if someone is willing to turn up on their own initiative and try and figure out ways of making themselves useful then they will not be short of things to do.
The trouble at present is it's a crisis at both ends, the numbers of people needing help (which can be anything from needing to get a French sim card registered to broken limbs) and the amount of people wanting to help, mostly by rolling up with a transit van full of stuff. It's true that there is no central strategy, nobody in charge, but there will be a lot of organisation happening behind the scenes. Even maintaining a relatively constant level of chaos in Calais can require a lot of organisation.
I think as far as distribution is concerned matters are slowly improving. There should soon be semi-permanent storage spaces available on both sides of the channel so that tents and clothes and food can be shared out in some kind of rational way. Even then it will all have to be sorted out by too few people with too much to do. So anyone who wants to donate stuff should make doulbe sure they know what they're doing, and should make sure that someone in Calais knows what is coming and when and has some kind of plan for what to do with it. Just in the last few days the amount of information available to help people plan their trips to Calais has improved a lot.
3rd CalAid London Donations Drop Off Day
3rd CalAid London Donations Drop Off Day | Facebook
If you can volunteer at this event for a few hours to help load and sort stuff for transport to Calais, that's one good way of helping out. If donations are transported and stored en masse then it becomes less of a headache to deal with it all. Or a different kind of headache at least.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
MdM do provide tents and things, or they have done in the past. And, saints be praised, they actually ask around and check what's needed first.
I don't doubt the difficulties in organisation. I felt the piece I read was a bit ignorant of that, and the history, hence my concern that the need to go through existing organisations wasn't expressed strongly enough.
I can't volunteer for that as I'm in Birmingham but I can link to it for others.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
By all means collect stuff now if you've got somewhere you can store it for a month or two if needed. It might well be the case that a couple of months down the line there will be a sudden urgent need for tents (for example this used to happen whenever the CRS would evict and bulldoze one of the jungles) and if someone already has a garage full of them that can be transported to Calais at short notice then that might be exactly what's needed.
All people in Calais are asking is to think about how and when you want to bring stuff over. Hopefully this will all make more sense once there's some proper warehousing available, which should be happening soon.
Manter
Lunch Mob
We've been laughing in our admin group about what we receive that isn't needed. But in a slightly hysterical way. Brioni suit in a refugee camp, anyone?
Edit- and can you imagine what the right wing press would make of a refugee in a thousand dollar suit?!!
I'll ask people to think about what they have that's needed and to hold on for a month or 2.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Last christmas we had all sorts. Jigsaw puzzles, bone china tea sets, electric coffee machines. And at this point we had a single lock-up garage to work with, and that was already nearly full when a load of mad Germans turned up unannounced with what could have been the entire contents of six whole charity shops.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
I took one of the tea sets home for myself if I'm honest 
e2a: So if course I went back through customs on the way home with basically nothing but a change of clothes and an antique china tea set. The two French women on duty at the border control shared a look that clearly said, crazy fucking English people
e2a: So if course I went back through customs on the way home with basically nothing but a change of clothes and an antique china tea set. The two French women on duty at the border control shared a look that clearly said, crazy fucking English people
Last edited:
I'm thinking flogging stuff to the rag trade/cash for clothes etc to cope with the current wave if i don't arrange further storage, sorting and at least an idea of when the next pick up will be, and by who...That's also a way to raise cash for people doing the actual trips, cover their fuel, and sort out stuff like a proper broadband connection for my house. Currently attempting to admin and herd cats from a kindly donated smartphone, have a computer but need my own connection rather than risking wasting money on extending the wonky wifi signal - from three floors down. The first month isn't in my budget for about a fortnight and i can't really afford what I've already spent on stuff like phone top ups to keep in touch and online, and emergency sandwiches from the shop instead of cooking properly for the last few weeks. My 'eeekend off' starts now and i am going to look after me, my cats and my flat fur a couple of days - nothing will happen or crumble in the meantime xx
Last edited:
Manter
Lunch Mob
The stuff that is junk I have just binned. You get so little from scrap cloth merchants that if someone kicks off about it I'll just write a cheque. I guess if you have volume fair enough, but the time and £7 travel card needed to get £4 seems a bit silly.
Still shocked at what people donate though.
Still shocked at what people donate though.
Similar threads
