SPICE ROUTES

Dunkirk 04.02.26

It was a cold but bright day after many days of heavy rain. The @medecinsdumonde mobile clinic needed to find parking spaces for its vehicles in amongst the muddy puddles in the distribution area, and alongside a ploughed field littered with debris. A massive police clearance took place this week in Calais, and another in this Dunkirk setting, a place in constant flux, compounded by often miserable weather and the necessity for many to sleep outside without cover.

Inside the psychosocial activities van the space was made full use of throughout the afternoon by those waiting to see the doctors and nurses. Our spice book * proved particularly valuable today, with nuanced conversations about the specific use and mixture of spices at home, and their routes from one country to another. It was also a useful distraction from the flu-like symptoms, the various injuries and ailments, and worries about where next to sleep.

Conversations were wide-ranging, sometimes brief but some very meaningful, moving between the personal, the factual and the collective - from oxen to dreams of studying at Oxford University, from Berbera spice to Somalia having the longest coastline in Africa; and surviving a boat sinking in the central Mediterranean sea. Hot days and nights at home were fondly remembered, and compared to the challenges acclimatising to the cold wet conditions in northern France.

We were also witness to a moving conversation between several people sitting at the table in the van. One by one each person opened up about outbreaks of violence and tensions they have experienced in this border setting, leaving individuals feeling exposed or unsettled. While fear and anger were expressed in turns, the conversation came back to the vital role of connection and friendships, and of looking out for one another.

Words by Bobby Lloyd, Miriam Usiskin & Johannes Maertens.

* “The Science of Spice” by Dr Stuart Farrimond, 2018, Dorking Kindersley.