Dunkirk, France, July 17, 2024
Today the warm sunshine, blue sky and convivial atmosphere belied the underlying precarity and dangers for people who are on the move in northern France. In this fenced edge of town setting outside Dunkirk, we were told of outbreaks of tension in the living sites as well as injuries sustained from living outside.
Since we were last here in mid June, there is a new Labour government in place in the UK with the much feared Rwanda scheme being scrapped. Two days ago, more than 400 people crossed the Channel in small boats, while the terrible loss of life in the Channel last week is still reverberating, with many questions and painful unknowns.
Today, the Médecins du Monde France medical vehicles needed to park in close proximity to one another at the side of the road, leaving us to turn what was a tight corridor space between the various vehicles into something inhabitable by those waiting to receive medical treatment. This included several underage teenage boys, as well as those just turned adult and recently turned away from other European countries because of this.
Engaging people in this complicated setting with art materials, play and conversation serves a helpful function with our partners as an ongoing monthly routine and meeting place from either side of the Channel. By the end of the afternoon, the small patch of road felt once again more akin to an outdoors front room with the mobile loom and gentle weaving activity offering a little bit of domesticity in this setting, and a frame in front of which young men played Jenga, encouraged by the interpreters and others gathered around.
Before leaving the roadside, our routine of folding the World map and tablecloths was supported by our colleagues, the neat packing away marking the end of the visit, until the next time.
Words by Miriam Usiskin & Bobby Lloyd.
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