We are a group of volunteers from Bristol that came together in September to respond to the ever worsening refugee crisis in Europe. We are focused on helping refugees in the smaller camps north of Calais, as they are comparitively accessable to us by road and ferry. The people in the camps are in a desperate state. They have all fled war or persecution in their native countries, every story you hear on camp is shocking and heart breaking. There are families with young children, pregnant women, single men and many teenaged boys on the camps, which are muddy playing fields with little or no amenities, filled with camping tents. The main camp we're working on has 1200 people on with 1 water tap, two cold showers and 2 toilets. They arrive after their harrowing journey with virtually nothing but the clothes on their backs. 

Our aim is to care for these people as best we can as they are recieving no support from the French government or mainline charities. The only support they get is from a couple of very small local charities and aid that is brought over mainly from the UK, but also from Belgium and Germany. We now have a constant team of volunteers on the ground, so we can coordinate and distribute aid coming in from elsewhere, and distribute the aid we are sending over ourselves. We also clean the toilets and showers on a daily basis and clean up rubbish on the camp.

The priciple aid we send over is Aid Boxes, tents, sleeping bags, clothes and shoes. The Aid Boxes are designed to give new arrivals everything they need to survive; a multi fuel stove, food, cooking utensils, toiletries, a wind up torch, underwear, gloves, hats and a warm hoody. We will also be building 5 cooking shelter at the end of November, which have a wood burning stove in so they have somewhere to cook out of the rain. 

All the money raised here will go directly to paying for supplies for the refugees i.e. the palstic boxes that make up the aid boxes, the stoves to go in the boxes, and any other constituents of the boxes that aren't donated directly. Cost to get volunteers over there and to put them up while they're there, are funded through seperate fundraising means, as are all the building materials for the kitchen shelters. All the time everyone from our organisation puts in, is voluntary.

Thank you for your contribution, every penny makes a difference to these people that are no different from you and I apart form where they were born. The work we do in the camps not only keeps them alive and well but gives them a moment of humanity amongst a tide of abuse and neglect.

Big love from all the ABC crew xxx