Calais Day Four
Second to last day here, at one of the greatest places in the world.
Every morning I am greeted by a sea of incredible people. I have been here such a short time, but the people here have shown me what I needed. They showed me there is a possibility to change this world.
Today was another day of work, we organised shelves for quick access distribution, and reorganised the overflow warehouse ready for the shipment next week. There is meant to be a large shipment of medical aid going to Syria next week, I can only hope nothing awful happens within that time to prevent this. We also started training some of the new volunteers staying over the weekend (we even got promoted to 'expert' position!) and it was awesome to see their enthusiasm.
I wanted to discuss the importance of volunteering. I doubt any human should be able to go through their entire life without trying something like this, it is tough, it is hard, labouring work, but a working day cannot go quick enough when you are doing such an incredible thing. It is something that I believe should be introduced into the school systems, as a first world country we are incredibly fortunate not to be going through any kind of famine, disease or war at this current time. Which is why it seems so absurd we are taking this for granted, rather than helping those at this critical conditions.
It can make you into the best person possible, you can see the impact you have on peoples lives for the better from the get go. You can actually make a difference if you genuinely believe you can. If you don't believe then you will never be able to achieve anything in the world apart from living, living to die.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chanellejadephotography/albums/72157675198592874-Chanelle Manton photography
Every morning I am greeted by a sea of incredible people. I have been here such a short time, but the people here have shown me what I needed. They showed me there is a possibility to change this world.
'The world is fucked, but it doesn't mean we have to be'
(Chanelle Manton, first time volunteer, lifetime of change)
Last night got pretty emotional for my collegue and I. We hit that pivotical moment of realisation, that the work we do helps, and little by little, step by step, volunteer by volunteer, we can create a following of people that believe in change, believe in better, and together we can achieve so much. Without belief we are just another man in a bucket of millions, working, eating, dying.
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| Organising the kitchen distribution. |
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| Creating lifelong friends |
Volunteering brings a whole new perspective on life, it gives you the motivation to continue. You can carry on, or start, any career whatsoever with volunteering. You could be a banker but still take a week off to help out in a crises. Across this week I have met teachers, doctors, IT crew, media coordinators, travel agents, almost everyone I met definitely doesn't have careers in the charity sector, they just wanted to help.
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| Choose Love |
And so should you.
There is no excuse for not being able to volunteer. Anyone with the financial means can lend a helping hand, even those with less financial means but more time can lend a hand. Even those with no financial means and no time can still give some of their life, even a day, to a good cause. To a crisis. 'I don't have the time/money/means' is a pathetic excuse.
It can make you into the best person possible, you can see the impact you have on peoples lives for the better from the get go. You can actually make a difference if you genuinely believe you can. If you don't believe then you will never be able to achieve anything in the world apart from living, living to die.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chanellejadephotography/albums/72157675198592874-Chanelle Manton photography
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