Back in the beginning of the year, one of my resolutions was that I would take one week for myself.
I had defined 2 things had to be guaranteed during that week: traveling on my own and do some form of volunteering for a cause I believe in. I’ve done the research, the booking and off I went. I didn’t give it too much thought.
I ended up in Calais, a small French village very close to the UK, mostly known for its irregular Migrants situation. I volunteered a few days with an organization who supports all kind of displaced people (including refugees, asylum seekers… as I learned there are a number of specific legal terms depending on different circumstances) who reach Calais in search of a safer and better life.
Their support runs deep within this community with several organizations operating from the Warehouse.
What looks “just” like a regular warehouse from which daily operations and logistics support are ran, is actually a symbol of so many people coming together in face of human need.
It’s a real specific answer to real identified needs, not just an idea floating in the air.
Their support goes beyond providing hot meals, clothes, shoes, tents and other first necessity items.
The good will of a group – made of a very special kind of people – has an extreme impact on so many lives.
It seemed to me everyone is truly guided by a sense of justice that should be within everyone in the world.
I’m pretty sure the world would be a much better place.
As for me, it was really good to feel useful somehow.
The small action each person has on that warehouse will have a positive repercussion in someone’s “quality” of life at a later stage.
You do your tiny bit for the principle itself.
You do it because you believe in something and you want to back it with some action instead of lose words.
Some will call it fulfilling a sense of purpose, others fulfilling a sense of usefulness.
I’d say both.
Of course I would have preferred having hands on field work to see for myself what and how it’s happening, more as a confirmation of what I already believe in: people are People, not objects, not political toys.
In any case, it’s a delicate and far more complex matter than it seems and it requires handling from experienced people, which I understand.
The work of these people must be praised, admired, respected and supported.
From where I stand, they do it out of Love and Hope in a stronger and more equal society.
They do it out of the belief that no person should be “invisible” and everyone is entitled to a dignified life, where everyone is to be treated as a Human Being, where their rights are actually recognized and enforced rather than simply one more topic discussed in a never ending agenda in political debates between countries, lobbies and hidden interests.
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Love and Everyday Affairs 