Dunkirk 26.02.25
Last week, we worked with @medecinsdumonde in the roadside setting outside Dunkirk, where a group of NGOs provide a network of support, each offering a unique piece of the jigsaw of care so fundamental to people’s survival.
This is a desolate place where people on the move struggle outside, with makeshift tents in amongst foliage and trees nearby. Starting cloudy, the place was burdened by rain by the end of the afternoon, the ground muddy, rubbish from the day hard to contain.
People of all ages visited the mobile clinic with colds, coughs and fever. While the team worked consistently to treat 50 or so individuals and connect those needing it to wider services, we worked inside the psychosocial activities van, laying out a selection of books and materials for those waiting to receive medical care.
Several young men from Somalia arrived shivering. Mapping their individual journeys across Europe they explained how they had connected with each other only on arrival in this camp. A young woman joined, her face and head wrapped in scarves, still feeling the intense cold. ‘This is the worst place I have been to on my journey.’ Slowly around the small table, each started to warm and relax for a little while.
We were joined by a young mother, preoccupied by the burden of keeping safe her 2 year old child. In time they gradually started to take some delight in drawing together. A 10 year old boy also joined the table, his father close by. Connecting with us first through Connect 4, by the end of the afternoon he was using all the toy cars to create an orchestra.
A few days earlier, all 4 had been crossing the English Channel in an inflatable boat which had started to take in water several hours into their journey, before rescue arrived. A connection had thus been forged between them all, as explained by the mother and clear at the table in their being together. She also told us that, amidst the panic and tears on the boat, her little baby had started to sing.
Words by Bobby Lloyd & Miriam Usiskin.
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