Guest Blog by Nick Blundell, (Accidental) Independent Humanitarian Filmmaker

This film documents my week spent with NGOs that are working to support refugees in Calais, France, with a focus on those organisations that are supporting the specific needs of displaced women and children. Over the years, and in an independent capacity, I have become increasingly involved in supporting child refugees, mostly through fundraising for individual aid workers and NGOs, so those who I knew would put that money exactly where it was needed: food, water, shoes, shelter, advice, etc.

When I reflect on all the opportunities I had as a child against those that have been denied to so many of these children – and some are just babies – who are living in such utter squalor, and who are facing the full weight of so much misplaced rejection from the world, there are only two ways to deal with that: you can just let the senseless horror of it tear you apart; or you can /try/ to change it – and change yourself. Even if you can enact a small change, perhaps for an individual, even if just for them to know /someone/ is taking notice of their situation, then this matters immensely… and when multiplied, amplified, this /will/ bring real change to the situation.

Having raised some funds in a campaign earlier this year to support refugees during wintertime, I made contact with several organisations in Calais and was invited to join them in their work. It was a very humbling experience, and if I am completely honest, much of the time I felt I was “in the way” – nobody made me feel that way, of course, but it was the combination of me not speaking French, of working far from my comfort zone – I’m used to working at my desk, hacking out computer code – and of being shocked by the harsh reality of how I saw people (and children) living.

Then, when a volunteer at the warehouse just casually asked how I was doing, I explained I’d been putting up some shelves for children’s donated clothes and I just sort of choked up… as I tried to explain how I was trying to stop all the tiny clothes from getting all mixed up so volunteers could quickly find what they needed when heading out to refugee camp sites, because this warehouse should NOT exist, these clothes should NOT be there, those shelve dividers for 0-1 mo, 1-3 mo, 3-6 mo, 6-12 mo, 1-2 yo, 2-4 yo, 4-6 yo, … NONE of them should exist, and that reality just hit me out of nowhere.

So this film is the product of my curiosity – and horror – and I hope it conveys the true situation in Northern France just as I found it, and the beautiful strength and humanity of people, no matter where they are from. Please share the film, and perhaps you could organise a local screening with friends and family, which might just help to counter some of the misconceptions about the situation, and might just help bring about some change.