West Cumbrian pair help refugees

Retired teacher Jan Rumsey, 61, of Lamplugh, and former social worker Jude Graham, 52, of Crosby, spent a week helping at camps in Calais and Dunkirk earlier this month.

They helped with everything from sorting through donated goods, putting up tents and helping construct makeshift paths through the muddy sites to preparing hot meals and distributing food parcels.

The pair were among a six-strong group from Calais Action Carlisle.

Jan got involved through a chance conversation at Tullie House in Carlisle and had travelled to France with the group before.

Jude came across the organisation on Facebook and began helping at its Carlisle base.

They were both keen to do what they could to support refugees, from countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Iran and Syria, where they are.

They worked at both the Grande-Synthe camp in Dunkirk and the Calais camp known as the Jungle, as well as at a distribution centre providing aid to the camps.

Jude said: "They've escaped some of the most horrific circumstances.

"We have a responsibility as part of the human family to help these people."

The camps are rudimentary, with whole families living in small tents, poor sanitation, litter everywhere and rat infestations.

Amid the harsh conditions, Jude and Jan were impressed by the resilience of the refugees.

Jude said: "The spirit of the people in the camps is fantastic.

"Everybody smiles and says hello. People are willing to talk."

Despite not sharing their languages, the pair found it easy to communicate with the camps' residents, sharing laughter and spending time together.

Jude said: "We were shown hospitality time and time again.

"Any opportunity they had to share with us they took. People would give up their own seat for us to sit down by the first and warm our hands."

As the plight of the refugees is not being treated as a humanitarian crisis, large aid organisations such as the Red Cross are not able to get involved.

However, smaller charities and voluntary groups, and individual volunteers, are joining forces to do what they can to help.

The Cumbrian group worked alongside people from across Europe, and the French charity Médecins Sans Frontières.

Jan said: "The most amazing thing given that there are no police in the camp and no international aid is the camps look after themselves.

"People try to not cause trouble and try to work as communities.

"The tiniest things you do for these people they're so grateful."

Now they have returned, Jan and Jude are keen to make people more aware of the conditions faced by other human beings only about 400 miles away.

Jan: "The more you find out about it the more you realise the scale of what people don't realise is going on is enormous.

"One of our responsibilities is to talk to people about it because if we don't people won't know.

"People say 'aren't you good?' and 'that's wonderful'.

"The only thing we can really reply is to say actually it's a privilege to have the means and opportunity to go and do that."

The pair are now urging others to do what they can to support the refugees, from signing petitions and helping in local aid centres to taking part in volunteering trips.

A petition to have the refugee situation in Calais recognised as a humanitarian crisis can be signed at  petition.parliament.uk/petitions/119048