Playing a part: Anne M Jones returns to the refugee day centre in Calais
‘Making words, linking words, explaining words, leads to hearing stories.’
The flat, grey-green landscape exhales ghosts. They seem to taunt me as my train speeds from Calais to Lille-Flandres: ‘Has the world learned nothing from that terrible war that raged here over 100 years ago?’ Out of the window is an endlessness occasionally broken by small groups of houses nestling around a church spire. It reminds me that, despite the separation of church and state in France, the Catholic church, via Secours Catholique (SC), is still in a powerful position when it comes to providing relief to the refugees who continue to arrive at Calais. Its work is grudgingly accommodated by the local authorities, and it does not receive the constant petty harassments meted out randomly to other agencies – the Refugee Community Kitchen is from time to time prevented from setting regular tables for food or clothing delivery.
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