An extraordinary and emotional experience was shared by the Ross for Refugees volunteers, when they went to a camp in Calais to deliver donations, made by Ross-on-Wye residents, to the thousands of men, women and children, living in an area, which is known as “the jungle.”

An hour seemed to melt away as Gemma Jones and Ruth Worgan, the founders of the group recounted their trip to the Ross Gazette. Both women were clearly exhausted; they had left for France on Friday night (October 23rd) and had not returned until the early hours of Monday morning (October 26th).

Despite their exhaustion, Ruth and Gemma were both eager to talk about their experiences in the refugee encampment, and although they had both seen a lot that had upset them, they had many positive things to say about their trip.

“It was successful,” Ruth explained. “We all achieved quite a lot, and we were not there very long.”

“It was lovely to see such positivity,” Gemma said. She explained that there were many more volunteer groups, delivering aid in Calais, and all these groups would help each other’s projects, when and where they could.

The Ross for Refugees group’s project for the trip was to construct four shelters, which would home some of the most vulnerable refugees in the camp, boys aged between 12 and 14 years old, who did not have any family.

Another group from Leeds were building a school to give the children in the camp, not only an education, but a sense of routine and normality. Some members of the Ross for Refugees group also got involved with the construction of the school.

To read the full story, see this week’s edition of the Ross Gazette.