'Maybe one day I will see you again in England': Hertfordshire charity helps Calais refugees

There is little left in the Calais camp; tarpaulin hangs over broken fences, and rickety wooden boxes constitute a high street. But what it lacks in permanence is made up for by community spirit, something, that along with tents and shops, will be destroyed over the next five days.

Tension is high in the camp. Some people are desperate to get on coaches to be transported to centres elsewhere in France; they know if they refuse they could face deportation.

Others are defiant and refuse to be moved. Though these squalid shacks might make outsiders recoil, to these families, they have been home for years.

The camp is divided into communities. Sudanese families gather on one side of the camp, while Iranians are homed in the other. Iraqis cluster in the west, as Syrians group together in the east. Now these communities are being torn apart and fear stalks the refugees who have no idea where they are going.

But what is certain is that they are not going where they want.

Some have been living in the camp for years, hoping they would be granted sanctuary in Britain. To accept that this dream is over is difficult.

After seeing three-year-old Alan Kurdi washed up on a beach in Turkey, Siobhan Burleigh, of Gammons Lane, Watford, decided she wanted to help refugees. The 33-year-old set up Herts for Refugees charity a year ago and has visited the camp ten times.

She said: “We have to remember the camp is these people’s home so it's not going to be easy for everyone. Many will be separated from friends and it's going to be really difficult.

“Police presence was a lot higher and stricter than ever before. It definitely felt different to other times I have visited.

“Hopefully the French cities will continue to be welcoming and the people can settle into their new life and start looking forward to a safe future.”

Some refugees will try and make the camp in Dunkirk, where almost 900 people live, their home. But the camp is no longer accepting more vulnerable people.

Conditions are better than in Calais, but tensions are still high and the demolition of the ‘Jungle’ has prompted panic. Day by day, the refugees are having to accept that living in England is no more than a pipe dream.

As I trudged through mud between the shacks, three Iranian men from Shiraz asked me where I was from; when I said England, they stopped me in my tracks. They wanted to hear all about my hometown and asked me what it is like “over there”.

One man, who has been living at the camp for more than a year, said: “We want to come to England because English people are kind and will accept us.

“England is a busy place and full of many races; there are Pakistanis, Sudanese, Syrians, Iranians, Iraqis – we will be accepted there.

“But I’m not sure it will happen anymore.”

They shook my hand and as I walked away, one shouted: “Maybe one day I will see you again in England.” Like me, they were smiling but unconvinced.

Later in the day, a fight broke out between two men. What started as shouting quickly escalated to brick-throwing and hitting one another with planks of wood. People are scared, fed-up and disheartened. Soon, more refugees will arrive and the restricted services may have to be stretched further.

But the children carry on smiling.

There are around 80 children in Dunkirk and the Butterfly House was set up to entertain them. Each day a handful of helpers arrange activities that include painting, arts and crafts and cinema showings.

Herts for Refugees arranged an afternoon of cape and mask-making, which around 30 children attended.

Miss Burleigh said: “It doesn’t take much to make capes and masks with these children – but you can see how much it means to them.

“These children have nothing to do and nowhere to go and activities like this make a big difference.

“Nobody should go through what these adults and children are going through, whether that’s in their own country or on our doorstep in France.

“These people were just unlucky to be born where they were and that’s all it comes down to.”

An 11-year-old Iranian girl walked around the camp in shoes that were three times too small for her. Her name was Shagall and she did not speak much English.

When I asked how long she had been in Dunkirk, she flashed her ten, small fingers at me three times. How long she had been there was unclear, but she knew the camp and its workers well.

When I asked her where home was, she said: “22”, and grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me over to a wooden hut.

I poked my head inside and saw two sleeping bags strewn across the floor and a boy no older than 15 sat inside. There was no trace of other family members. But Shagall carried on smiling, clutching a notepad from the centre and showing off the eye-patch she had made there.

In the next five days, it is likely hundreds of refugees will try to move in to the camp, which at present says it will not accept more migrants.

Others will be dispersed across the country, away from family and friends, and many children are likely to go missing.

Ten have been placed in Hertfordshire – young girls from Ethiopia and Eritrea were placed with foster carers across the county within hours of arriving in the early hours of Sunday morning.

But as tarpaulin and shacks are destroyed in Calais, so are most refugees' hope of a life in Britain.