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In the third week of September thirty members of Wellington College’s Sixth Form volunteered for a very different sort of weekend. The group, who were all members of WCPCI, the College’s Peace and Conflict Institute, travelled to Calais to spend two days supporting the work of Care4Calais in the refugee camps. The WCPCI, part of Wellington’s Global Citizenship programme, allows students to learn about worldwide conflict and pathways to peace. The initiative has seen pupils travel to Rwanda and Northern Ireland in the past and is never short of young Wellingtonians anxious to serve and help shape a better world.
The group spent their mornings working in the warehouses sorting, checking, and allocating the supplies that would later be distributed to the refuges: tents, sleeping bags and food supplies were all high on the agenda with the days growing colder and the nights drawing in. Afternoons saw the students visiting the camps before being split into smaller groups where they manned hot drink stations, delivered rudimentary English lessons, provided haircare, shared friendship bracelets, or simply played games with children who had often, with few possessions, travelled hundreds of miles to find a place of safety.
Most importantly, visits like this can not only increase morale among the refugees by showing kindness and reminding them they are not forgotten, but also teach compassion and empathy by putting into perspective many privileges that are often taken for granted. When asked about the trip, Zara C (A) commented:
“It was a highly rewarding experience, and one that made a deep impression on me: I know that many of us are planning on revisiting the camps in our holidays, especially as the need for volunteers remains high. I urge new members of our Sixth Form to get involved with the programme as it’s so worthwhile. It made me properly appreciate how fortunate I am when I met people who haven’t spoken to their families in years, people younger than me, people that sleep rough every night no matter the weather.”
