First Transmission on Saturday 20. February at 18:00Berlin Time (5pm in Uk – 7pm in Syria – 9.30pm in Afghanistan)
Imogen Pettitt went from Wales to Calais with a van full of bicycles. She reported her trip but also her impressions from the Calais Jungle,a steadily growing community of 6000 refugees. It is good she is not a professional journalist and talked with people without caring too much for the background noises. As a result it is not only her words, but also the sounds from the Calais Jungle that become an unexpected protagonist in her report. This first program is a 3 day report on the building of houses, sorting of much needed materials and a taste of what has come to be known as ‘the Jungle of Calais’.
Dear Listeners,
You know what is happening in Syria. You remember what happened in Afghanistan. You might know what is happening in Eritrea. There are so many, too many conflicts, that have happened in the recent past or that are still happening. The shock waves of past conflicts are still moving people onwards, away from persecution that we may have forgotten about. In some countries people are being press-ganged into war, in others they are being bombed. Some people I spoke to had more individual reasons – the Afghan interpreter who worked for the British Forces, as soon as they left, he had to leave too as the Taliban were after his head. The Jungle is a huge melting pot of resourceful, displaced people.
This piece doesn’t go into the politics, there are other places for that. It doesn’t go into individual stories either because I didn’t want to shove a microphone or a camera into peoples faces. It would have seemed invasive, especially if I couldn’t explain why I was taking them & what I would use them for.
So this piece is from a volunteers perspective. It was recorded by myself and other volunteers as we went about the day to day business of volunteering.
After we left, a large part of the Jungle was bulldosed, despite assurances from the Authorities that they were not going to do this.
Thank you for listening!
Imogen
With: Imogen Pettitt, the Scot is Spudd Connor, there’s an englishman called Tim Crombie and a Belgian (?) called Michel Thill & various others.
Edit:Adrian Shephard
Word to Imogen:
“We arrived in Calais late in the evening, it was warm, dry and there was hope in the air. In the camp, there were a lot of people milling around or gathered in the larger shelters with electric light & camp kitchens. I was nervous, I didn’t know what language to speak or what to say or do. I only saw two women and a handful of children in the camp. I am a short, middle-aged white woman with blue hair.” read more