on: Refugees Are People, Not Problems

Hi Friend,

Hope your week has gone okay. As we head into the weekend, I want to share with you a conversation I had with Chrissie Kelly about refugees in Caen, France. I hope you find it reminds you to consider the refugee. Please share. Please comment. And please subscribe if you want more musings on social justice issues.

Lauren

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Like clockwork, each Wednesday, Chrissie Kelly, and team members of SOS Chai, park a retired ambulance on a peninsula (Presqu’île in French) in the French city of Caen. Caen is renowned as one of the oldest university towns in France, bursting with life and beauty. But it has essentially sectioned off the Presqu’île as the assigned area for refugees. My husband and I visited three years ago, and I vividly recall the quintessential “feel” of the city of Caen, and how it sat, juxtaposed to the peninsula full of abandoned buildings. It is on this peninsula that SOS Chai operates to provide hot meals, personal necessities, English lessons, and friendship.

If you have followed British news recently, you will know of the influx of immigrants crossing the English Channel on dingy boats from France to England. Opinions are heated on either side of how to respond to the situation. Do we build a wall, like Trump? Do we provide boats for them to safely cross? Do we deport them on arrival? Do we blame France? Do we welcome them into the UK with open arms? There aren’t currently any answers for how the situation will be handled. And to be fair, there are many reasons for why this is not a “black and white” or “cut and dry” issue.

But behind every man and woman crossing that Channel, there is a story.  I wanted to talk to Chrissie about her experience of the refugees in Caen, the ones satisfied to claim asylum in the France, but mostly the ones desperate to get the UK. In Caen, there are essentially two groups of refugees.

One group has made their temporary home on the Presqu’île as they seek to claim asylum in France. France has historically provided an excellent process for refugees to seek asylum. Once an individual is granted asylum - which has happened frequently as they have been quite generous with who they allow to stay – he will receive pleasant accommodation and 200 Euros per week. Many asylum seekers in France come to France as they are from French speaking countries, which makes integrating into the community a bit easier. The main complaint of the system is the length of time it takes to be granted asylum, meaning that people could be waiting quite a while to have food and a place to live.

The other group of refugees in Caen are those that want to get to the UK. Near the port, there is a wooded area which currently “houses” 60-80 primarily Sudanese men, that are attempting to hide in lorries (big trucks) that are crossing on the ferry into the UK. These men are not the ones crossing on dingy boats as I mentioned earlier. When I visited Caen, Chrissie took us to visit these woods, right on the outskirts of a residential area, and men literally started to just walk out of the woods, in hopes of a meal. Chrissie told me, “They are often living out there in snow, sleeping on cardboard boxes, and without food.” Many of these men can’t speak English, so Chrissie hasn’t been able to form close relationships with them, but she told me that she feels completely safe around them. Even though they pose no threat to the locals (the locals have fed the boys during lockdown), Chrissie told that they are often sprayed with tear gas by authorities to get them to leave. Sprayed as if they are some sort of rabid animal.

Chrissie explained to me some of the reasons that these boys are willing to undergo such conditions whilst trying to get to the UK. The most obvious reason is that they come from countries or people groups where they have experienced trauma – be it war, famine, draught, persecution, poverty. Chrissie said these boys are “risking their lives for years” to seek out another home. They aren’t doing it for an adventure. They’re doing it because they have no hope otherwise.

But why are so many keen to get the UK? Why don’t they stop in Germany of France, both of which have excellent options for refugees?  

The boys that often make it as far as France are the “best of the best”. They have survived the turbulent journey to get to France, when many others weren’t able to make it. Many times, their families back home have gathered all their resources to send their “golden goose” to seek refuge in the UK, the “land flowing with milk and honey”. If they don’t get to the UK, they feel shame for disappointing their families.

Smugglers have also encouraged men to get the UK. They preach the message that the UK is safest and will provide the best livelihood. I wonder how much of their message is for the purpose of collecting more money. Chrissie told me that one boy worked to pay smugglers 7000 Euros to cross the English Channel. It is hard to shake the notion that they have no other choice but to try getting into Britain.

And when friends make it the UK, their success stories encourage the boys to keep trying. Keep risking their lives. Chrissie would love to explain to the boys that France offers many resources for refugees, but the language barrier makes it difficult. She also realises that France’s historically positive treatment of refugees may be coming to an end.

France appointed a new Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin on the 6th of July. He is changing the way France responds to refugees. Chrissie wonders if the French government is being strong armed by the UK to sort out the refugee “problem”. They have created a list of approved countries of origin that will be considered for asylum. Everyone else – from Senegal, Iran, Ghana, Sierra Leon, etc – are being rounded up and deported. Recently, there have been six squats closed in Caen – leaving only one squat of 200 people left. People are scurrying to hide from authorities to avoid being found.

These are confusing times for both the UK and France as they decide how they are going to respond to refugees. As decisions are made, let’s fight to not treat these men as problems, but as people. Men that have seen family members killed, raped, and tortured. Men that have no hope of “climbing the ladder” or even of feeding their families. Men in poor health that need medical treatment. Men that haven’t seen their children in five years. Men that hide above wheels of lorries. Men that cross mountains. Men that haven’t eaten in weeks. Men that want to be educated and work.

Men that are looking for hope.