PLAYFUL ORIENTATION

Dunkirk, July 2nd 2025

The sweltering hot weather broke in northern France just as we arrived at the roadside area outside Dunkirk with the @medecinsdumonde mobile clinic. The large team was made up of coordinator, logistician, doctors, nurses, interpreters and volunteers. It rained all afternoon with the psychosocial activities van providing a vital refuge for many people waiting for medical attention for colds, skin complaints and injuries.

It was also a busy afternoon. The people we met today came from Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Uganda, Afghanistan, Iran, Kurdistan, Yemen, Djibouti. We laid the world map on the ground outside the van and it felt like a temperature check of the situation here. For many, the feeling of cultural, physical and psychological disorientation was communicated to us - I’m lost, I don’t belong, I’m stuck, I’m a citizen of nowhere, the map is the wrong proportions, things feel out of proportion. For others, the map was a valuable point of orientation.

Inside the van, the children aged 2-12 who gathered around the chalkboard tablecloth delighted in play with texture, touch, building, deconstruction, drawing and movement. In spite of the confined space and alongside sick adults, teenagers and parents with babies, the children demonstrated their ability to explore, connect, and thrive - remarkable given the context.

Words by Miriam Usiskin, Bobby Lloyd, & Johannes Maertens