Ruth Bullock tells us about a recent mission trip to the ‘Jungle’
In early December, seven Christians from Guildford set off for their first visit to the ‘Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais.
Chertsey Street Baptist Church have connected with Eglise des Deux Caps, a French church in Calais who are working with the organisation Convoy of Hope to reach out to the many migrants and refugees currently living in the tent-city known as the Jungle.
Police presence
The police presence in the local area is very apparent when first approaching the Jungle. More so on this particular day, as police had intercepted 100 people trying to cross through the Channel Tunnel the previous evening. The Jungle itself is a patchwork of multi-coloured tent canvas and tarpaulins patched together to keep out the rain, plus some wooden structures with makeshift walls.
This colourful sight is home to people of many nationalities including Iranians, Ethiopians, Sudanese, Kurds, Uzbeks, Eritreans, Syrians, Afghans and several more. People have fled their countries for many different reasons and hold a shared dream to reach a place of safety in the UK. The different people-groups tend to camp amongst their own culture and language group and there are often conflicts over territory and race. As we approached the camp there were many young men hanging around on the street at the entrance to the Jungle. We later saw vans of food packages arriving which was presumably what they were all waiting for.
Working with the children
Convoy of Hope along with Eglise des Deux Caps organise outreach events in the Jungle every Saturday. They have coordinated teams to be involved in one-to-one evangelism, children’s work, a music event and providing meals for 1000 people. Our team had been asked to organise the children’s activities.
We started with just 12 children until the food arrived and then many more came along with their mothers. The children played the games with joy on their faces, faces which covered up the awful conditions that they are living in and the terrible situations they have fled from. Even with the language barrier the children listened to the Christmas story well with children pointing and shouting ‘Mary’ at the pictures. We took party food which brightened up their faces even more and then helped give out shoeboxes which had been donated by another church.
Gospel opportunities
Two members of our team also had the privilege to be involved in one-to-one evangelism and were blown away by the openness of many, Iranians in particular, to hear about the gospel. It was incredible to see a group of Iranian volunteers from the UK who were praying with a whole group of Iranian migrants, some of whom gave their lives to Christ that day. What an amazing opportunity for reaching out to so many people-groups with the gospel; to bring hope into lives of people when they are facing such desperation.
Vision for working with refugees
Fabien, the pastor of Eglise des Deux Caps in Calais, shared his testimony of how God had been speaking into his life, since he took over the church three years ago, with regards to the refugee situation which is right on his doorstep. Fabien’s primary focus when he joined the church was to establish the church and his role and ministry within it. However, over the past year, God has been clearly giving the whole church a vision for work with the refugees. A couple who felt called to full-time ministry amongst Africans were encouraged to take up that call on their doorstep and they are now going into the camp daily to offer practical and spiritual support where they can. Many other members of the congregation help with an outreach event in the Jungle every Saturday. Fabien explained how the number of migrants in the camp had doubled since Summer 2015. Now there are over 6000 people in the camp – mainly men, but families have started to arrive. There is also another smaller camp in Dunkerque with around 2000 migrants. We were told that the camp in Dunkerque is more Islamic and not a safe place for Christian refugees.
Fabien mentioned that five years ago there were only about 500 people at one time in the camps and there was a lot of movement, but now the numbers are growing and growing. A French Government programme encourages groups of migrants to move to different parts of France where, once re-sited, they are given a month to apply for asylum, otherwise they are subject to repatriation, but most people in the camp have one aim: to reach the UK.
Laundry service
Fabien’s church, along with Convoy of Hope, prayed about and discussed how they could best support the refugees practically and one idea was to provide a laundry service. So money was raised to buy a washing machine, dryer and a vehicle to drive into the Jungle and collect laundry and return it clean and dry. This has been a great way of breaking down barriers and providing opportunities for conversations with people.
Language and culture barriers have been limiting the amount that Fabien’s congregation can do in the Jungle, but links are being established and there is now an area within the camp where outreach events happen each Saturday. In general, the migrants within the camp seem very open to friendship and to people sharing with them about Christianity. It was also encouraging to hear that medical assistance is available, although many people are suspicious of it and so tend to suffer in silence.
Open Smile
Convoy of Hope are supporting Fabien’s church to work in the Jungle. Their vision for the work is to find national Christians who have a burden to share with their fellow compatriots and then help to equip them to evangelise amongst their own language group. The church has already established a good link with an Ethiopian church in London which sends meals over every Saturday and leads a church service in the camp on Sundays. They are working to enable the Ethiopian Christians in the camp to reach out to their fellow migrants. The church is also doing a lot of work amongst the Kurds and Eritraens. The ministry is now registered with the local council as a programme called Open Smile. They want to encourage migrants to recognise that, although their situation is desperate, if they look to the Lord they can learn to smile.
Fabien’s church also have a store where they collect blankets, clothing, food items and toiletries. Their plan is to establish relationships first and then when needs arise they are able to offer support with the resources they have collected. This organised way of providing relief has been very effective.
We were able to provide a number of blankets ready for the cold winter and these will be distributed by Fabien’s church. We are not sure yet how the Lord will use our trip but we are hoping we can continue to offer Fabien and his church some support and we hope to visit the Jungle again. There is a real window of opportunity at the moment where people are open to hearing the gospel and we need to be open to the Lord’s directing. The vision Fabien has of encouraging Christians in the Jungle to reach out to their fellow migrants is also clear, sustainable and exciting.
