The Beginning of Our Service.

In June the Canterbury Stake Relief Society sisters rallied together to respond to the Charity appeal ‘Keep a Child warm’ from Operation Orphan.  A collection of hand knitted blankets, warm clothing and boots filled the Canterbury Cultural Hall. These were dispatched to Moldova and Ukraine.

A month later we felt a sense of urgency to provide aid for our Brother and Sisters seeking refuge throughout Europe.  There was no clue at the start of this journey that there would be such emotion involved. Ordinarily, a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers determined to help collect donations for a worthy cause stays within its original remit, but what began as a request for the church to get involved by the Canterbury Stake Relief Society presidency turned into something much, much more.

In early September, an appeal went out, asking members and the public to get involved and to donate clothes and goods. The response was overwhelming! Far from being a Stake response, the appeal drew donations from far and wide, with other religious groups doing their bit with donations, prayers and practical help. The Canterbury mosque was one of the religious groups that put an enormous amount of effort into helping, with help and support in the form of specially dedicated prayers for the drive. Other church groups asked us to take their donations and provided assistance in sorting and boxing items ready for dispatch. The Canterbury Stake Primary children played their part by putting together hygiene kits for their Faith In God activity, helping to engender a desire to help amongst our future leaders of the Church. We knew that the Lord was listening to our prayers when, after being informed that one of the vans was overladen and we dragged our weary bodies back to re-distribute the weight, we were met by missionaries with cheery dispositions who made light work of the task.  With a team of members, we drove to Slough, where the items were gratefully received by Calaid and then distributed to port Piraeus in Greece

Feeling as though our work was not yet done, we made arrangements to visit the infamous ‘Jungle’ in Calais, to offer help and to become better acquainted with what the immediate needs were for our fellow man.

Canterbury Stake Relief Society Presidency -
Naomi Potter and Marisa Rickard

President Rickard wearing an old Temple Square mission sweater, the slogan has great resonance.

Another Account by Naomi Potter - 

On the first day, we worked at L'auberge Des Migrants, which is basically a warehouse on an industrial site. Before arriving they had driven past the ‘Jungle’; thousands of tents and make-shift shelters, basic wooden structures covered in tarpaulin. Mismatched. It was the sort of thing you see on Comic Relief with some celebrity visiting some remote village in Africa, certainly not something you would expect to see in Western Europe. One shelter had a few pots outside with flowers in, which seemed symbolic of life, hope, dignity and love. It was simple but it spoke a thousand words. Many people were walking up and down that road. There we met Gani, a man from Kosovo who was hobbling around on a broken leg. He spoke seven languages and spoke of how he needed for nothing but wanted to help others in the camp. He asked us to look him up on Facebook as he wanted to show a picture of him in his suit, how he was, before he ended up there. He wanted to be seen differently than just a refugee. Respect in the jungle is vital. The image of the camp was in mind from the beginning of our time and focused every task we did, always remembering the end result of every part, of every cog in the machine. No matter what part you play, donating, delivering, sorting, distributing, each role aids the final goal of helping people.  The warehouse is a sorting house. As one of the warehouse leaders said “You can take a pair of shoes and deliver them to one person you have befriended in the camp and feel really great about helping them. Or you can work as part of a team, maximising the effort, enabling the team to help thousands of refugees”. The great thing about the warehouse is that everyone there shares your values and all sympathise with the same cause. People had taken annual leave to be there. And L'auberge Des Migrants looked after you. They provided lunch every day, continental style, with breads and cheeses, cold meats, juice water, chocolate, sweets and fruit. During lunch, which was eaten on the grass, a man from Bath arrived on his cycle and whipped out a container of soup. He was from a kitchen, just four days old that had been set up to feed refugees. He served it up to the volunteers too because he believed it was important to look after them as well, as they had no time to cook for themselves. Lorries and vans were continuously loaded up all day with the sorted items. Then they set off to the Jungle to distribute them. Next morning, jobs were being distributed and we volunteered to spend the day in the La Vie Active, Jules Ferry centre, on the verge of the camp. Here we met two French-speaking ladies from London, whom we worked with for the rest of the day.  Marisa and her French speaking lady went to serve hot drinks, serving so fast that she was left with scolded hands. Of that experience she said, “ I had not anticipated such a warm welcome and outpouring of gratitude. When I was pouring the tea, one man offered in return a cookie. I took one and thanked him and he offered more. So many wanted to give back and show that they could make a worthy contribution.” There were many men walking around in poorly fitted shoes. One man wore a pair of pink crocs with his heels hanging way over the back. Many men walking around in trainers with the backs pushed down so they could fit into them. The media have not be kind to the refugees, but quite contrary to any reports about how ungrateful they are for donations and how donations were going to waste, people queued politely when the vans arrived.

And donations are definitely still needed.

That evening Marisa and I served up dinner. Pasta and sausages en mass. We have no idea how many people came through those doors in those few hours, but it was in the hundreds. Mostly men interspersed with women and children. You have to work quickly, but with speed, you risk losing that touch of humanity. We were mindful that they didn’t want them to feel like cattle being hurried through, so we greeted people as they were served. Everyone smiled as you served them. Many expressed gratitude. One man, held out his hand to be shaken and said “I want you to know, that I am very grateful for what you are doing. We never forget people like you who come here to help”. As we left, we were very conscious that we were merely being instruments in the hands of The Lord. We never went to Calais to feel thanked or to feel good about ourselves. We went because we couldn’t not go.