MCEC works in "The Jungle", Calais

In late October Br Samad Billoo, an MCEC Board Advisor and Trustee of HANDS International, a charity mainly focused on delivering medical support for people with humanitarian needs,  along with Talat Shaikh of MCEC, Seema Patel of NHS England and 16 volunteers visited ‘The Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais, France to carry out a health needs assessment.
Following the initial needs assessment visit, London Ambulance Service volunteers began working with us to look at the options for working together.
Life in the Jungle
There are about 6,500 men women and children in ‘The Jungle’ living in tents with no heating and sharing 3 water stands across the whole camp. There is no hot water and the only electricity is from generators.
The authorities classify the camp as a border control matter rather than a humanitarian concern resulting in no formal charity providing input. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are delivering basic medical care in hours and although they’re doing a great job but it’s simply not enough.
Vaccination Centre
With Winter coming in quickly, and bearing in mind the poor living conditions of the refugee camp a decision was made to run a vaccination centre to inoculate refugees against the Flu virus.
On November 6^th the group returned to the camp to assist an inspiring group of architects from Ireland to build a clinic supported by refugees, in particular a Sudanese architect living in the camp. The build was completed within 4 days and opened for flu vaccinations on Tuesday the 10^th Nov.
During that week, we were joined by 3 London Ambulance Service volunteers on 12^th & 13^th November  who stepped up superbly and at the end of the first week the team had vaccinated over 200 refugees with the Flu vaccine which will go a long way to keeping the camp as healthy as possible in such conditions and may even prevent deaths.
The volunteers have been welcomed to the camp and have been invited to eat with our Afghani and Sudanese neighbours who have shown incredible kindness to us all. Card games, volleyball and music have been as much a feature of our time here as  vaccinations.
‘Fire’
On Friday the 13^th of November 2015, a camp fire driven by  strong winds ignited an empty gas canister causing an explosion and a large fire spread quickly across a significant area of the camp. Happily there were no fatalities but 100s of families lost all their possessions and papers. It was treated as a major incident with emergency shelters being used to house dispossessed refugees until more tents could be set up. The clinic was opened up to offer support and advice with the support of London Ambulance Service’s major incident expertise.
MCEC with Hands International and London Ambulance Service volunteers plans to continue flu vaccinations at the clinic until January 2016 and then continue to provide a presence throughout the rest of the winter. We are discussing the best way to continue care at the camp by invitation of the French health authorities currently.
If you wish to contribute to the cost of vaccines or even to volunteer for a day or longer please email [email protected] for an information pack.