Lots of Photos, One Outcry
In January last year, I participated in a volunteer project in Calais, a city in northern France. The project, facilitated by the organization, aimed to help irregular migrants trying to reach the UK by maintaining their family connections through a phone service while also providing support for their medical and humanitarian needs. Since this experience was emotionally challenging for me, I needed a long time to process and reflect before writing about it in detail. The first thing I noticed upon arriving in the city was the abundance of barbed wire everywhere. I do not wish to cast blame on the local population, but I was told by the project coordinator that these barriers were primarily intended to prevent irregular migrants from setting up tent camps randomly. This city is already internationally known for the "Jungle," an informal settlement of makeshift shelters and tents where many migrants live—often referred to as the Jungle of Cala...