A PEEBLES woman has described being “overcome with emotion” at what she saw during a recent trip to help refugees stranded in France.

Mary Mackay, 79, and her daughter Karen, 56, spent between Christmas and New Year in Calais.

It follows a similar trip last January when Mary and five members of her family volunteered at the notorious French refugee camp nicknamed ‘the jungle’.

The camp has since been demolished and now many of the of the refugees are living in a camp in Dunkirk, in hope of travelling to the UK.

Mary and Karen left on Tuesday, December 27, taking sleeping bags and blankets donated by Peebles residents. They returned home on January 5.

Mary described the situation in France and how they helped.

“Small wooden huts were erected as dwellings in the camp as opposed to the assortment of tents and makeshift coverings they lived in when in The Jungle. Wooden huts may sound like luxury in comparison to tents but there is no heating, electricity or insulation consequently they are freezing inside. The exact number of refugees in the camp is not known but estimated to be well over 1,000.

“Me and Karen worked mainly in the RCK (Refugees Community Kitchen) in Calais which is a 40-minute drive from Dunkirk. 

“The kitchen provides hot meals for refugees every day as well the volunteers working in the warehouse and in RCK. My work each morning was helping alongside other volunteers, preparing mounds of vegetables for the ‘cooks’ and to cut up ingredients for salad. 

“All the fresh food is bought locally and paid for by donations. Most dried foods such as rice, sugar, salt, coffee, tea, tinned food and other basic ingredients are donated by individuals as well as companies, with second day bread donated by local shops. 

“I was overcome with emotion on several occasions when we were thanked so sincerely for the hot food. When we almost finished serving, a man came with his six children, we had almost run out of containers and still had a queue. 

“He asked if he came back with a plate, if we could give him more rice for his family. When he came back with the plastic plate we had in fact run out of containers, so he went back and brought more plates so that everyone could eat. 

“I watched him run back to his hut, he had a limp but was obviously trying to run fast. He came back with some plastic plates and handed them out to the people waiting in the queue. 

“I found this all very touching. Here was this man, despite the struggle he must have had to reach Calais with his wife and six children with nothing other than what they could carry, so willing to help others. 

“Every refugee has a story to tell, one lovely man I spoke to had taken eight months to walk from Afghanistan. He had no passport or papers and spent one month in jail in France before being sent to the camp. 

“Who knows how it will end for the refugees and how long their hopes of being granted asylum will last. 

“People can be forgiven for thinking the refugee problem has been solved since we are no longer being bombarded with it by the media. This is not the case, they still desperately need help and support.”

To donate or volunteer visit; www.refugeecommunitykitchen.com.