"Calais is inhumanitarian on a daily basis," as Médecins du Monde wrote in a mission report in 2006.

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Today, Calais is home to over a thousand people wandering the streets and small surrounding jungles. This is evidenced by the 500 to 1000 migrants who crowd daily at the Secours Catholique day center, which offers access to showers, washing machines and dryers for their clothes, drinks and sandwiches, and, most importantly, French lessons!

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The situation is becoming increasingly critical due to the climatic conditions in the Hauts-de-France region, where incessant rains and repeated storms leave the homeless in dire conditions. Not to mention the increasingly restrictive policies of the United Kingdom against undocumented exiles, who face hefty fines and imprisonment. Yet nothing deters those seeking asylum... the English Channel has already claimed many lives of those who believed they could reach the right to exist somewhere.

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Within Act & Help, a working and support committee for migrants has existed for years. It provides occasional aid to various associations in Calais, such as L'Auberge des Migrants, which has been on the ground since 2008, Hope & Smile Calais, Écarts, and Osmose. Thanks to the presence of a member of Act & Help's Board of Directors on-site, we can observe and target needs.

This allows us to act quickly and concretely.

 

These actions illustrate Act & Help's deep commitment

to fighting exclusion and despair.