Spending time volunteering in the refugee camp in Calais, known to most as the ‘Jungle’ has made me think about what ‘home’ means to the people living there. I have spent time working in the warehouse in ‘tent world’, collecting and sorting aid donations so they are ready for distribution into camp. In the evenings my time was spent in camp, eating in the restaurants and engaging in conversation classes in Jungle Books, which is a library and school in camp.
Working in tent world was one of my favourite jobs, as I felt that providing a shelter and temporary ‘home’ for someone was highly important. Any tent coming in is checked for holes, waterproofness and mould. Double layer tents are the priority as they provide more protection and warmth than single layer tents. If there are holes we can tape them up, sew them or glue them depending on the size, and if a tent is found to be beyond repair it is salvaged for parts such as toggles, poles, zips, etc.  Mould can be bleached off, and any broken or missing poles can be measured up and replacements found. Once the outside of a tent is constructed sometimes inner sleeping compartments are damaged or missing. Therefore salvaged tent parts can be used to create more sleeping compartments. The image to the right shows a huge tent which could be a shelter for 8 people but with no inner compartments. Therefore we salvaged compartments from other tents, sewed new toggles on to attach it to the tent and consequently made a new shelter.
Within the camp many stories I’ve heard are of people missing their homes and family. Although we try to provide a ‘home’, people never feel at home in a refugee camp. Instead people I’ve talked to have spent their time telling me stories of their proper home. A home with family, in a country they love. For many it is not possible to have this anymore due to war and conflict. The only hope they have is dreaming of creating a new home, not in a refugee camp but in country where they can participate in society and live like a person has the right to live. 

Home: where I feel connected, attached, refugee, secured, free, and not being judged.
Home is beyond any place, distance, or time. It is inside each one of us.
I am human and so you do. Humanity is our home.