Jalozai sur mer : The Jungle of Calais
The migrant encampment commonly known as le Jungle (the jungle) near the French port city of Calais has existed since 1999. Efforts by French authorities over the years to close it down have been unsuccessful to say the least since the port of Calais and Eurotunnel both attract migrants intending to cross over into England.
The present camp, located on a landfill site near the port is rapidly growing, where living and sanitary conditions are awful. Refugees from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Iraq, Kurdistan, Kuwait, Syria among other nationalities are stuck here. Although some of them do manage to cross into England but ever since the erection of a new security fence financed by the British government, crossing have become difficult as well as riskier.
Official figures put the number of people at around 3 thousand but actual numbers are more than double and rising regularly according to the aid organizations working there. The camp now resembles a swelling shanty-town with shops, restaurants, mosques and a church built by the Eritrean and Ethiopian communities.
There has been an influx of various British aid groups, volunteers and NGOs since the photo of the little Kurdish boy Aylan made the headlines. In fact at the moment the number of French people working on ground is far lower than the British arriving to help in person and in material. The volunteers set up temporary medical clinics, help out in cleaning the encampment, provide clothing, dry rations as well as temporary construction materials like plastic sheets and wood to the refugees so that they can make shelters for themselves more adapt to the cold weather.
The "main streets" are lined up with shops and a few restaurants, which are mostly run by Afghans.
The refugees from various nationalities live in different parts of the jungle and have created separate neighborhoods for themselves and even named these areas for example the part where Afghan, Kurd, Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees stay is known as Columbia amongst the refugees. The sector on the left side with Kuwaiti, Sudani and Syrian refugees is known as Madagascar whereas the zone around the Jules-Ferry center, where women and children are housed is called France.
Jalozai sur mer : The Jungle of Calais
The migrant encampment commonly known as le Jungle (the jungle) near the French port city of Calais has existed since 1999. Efforts by French authorities over the years to close it down have been unsuccessful to say the least since the port of Calais and Eurotunnel both attract migrants intending to cross over into England.
The present camp, located on a landfill site near the port is rapidly growing, where living and sanitary conditions are awful. Refugees from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Iraq, Kurdistan, Kuwait, Syria among other nationalities are stuck here. Although some of them do manage to cross into England but ever since the erection of a new security fence financed by the British government, crossing have become difficult as well as riskier.
Official figures put the number of people at around 3 thousand but actual numbers are more than double and rising regularly according to the aid organizations working there. The camp now resembles a swelling shanty-town with shops, restaurants, mosques and a church built by the Eritrean and Ethiopian communities.
There has been an influx of various British aid groups, volunteers and NGOs since the photo of the little Kurdish boy Aylan made the headlines. In fact at the moment the number of French people working on ground is far lower than the British arriving to help in person and in material. The volunteers set up temporary medical clinics, help out in cleaning the encampment, provide clothing, dry rations as well as temporary construction materials like plastic sheets and wood to the refugees so that they can make shelters for themselves more adapt to the cold weather.
The "main streets" are lined up with shops and a few restaurants, which are mostly run by Afghans.
The refugees from various nationalities live in different parts of the jungle and have created separate neighborhoods for themselves and even named these areas for example the part where Afghan, Kurd, Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees stay is known as Columbia amongst the refugees. The sector on the left side with Kuwaiti, Sudani and Syrian refugees is known as Madagascar whereas the zone around the Jules-Ferry center, where women and children are housed is called France.
