France's Calais 'Jungle': Where dreams go to die

By Fatma Esma Arslan

CALAIS, France

The “Jungle”, a notorious refugee camp situated just on the edge of the Oye Plage highway sign in north France, nowadays symbolizes the failed dreams of those refugees whose main goal was to reach the shores of the U.K. to live a better life.

The camp – home to thousands of refugees mainly from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran – is infested with rats as big as cats and has no food, water, or toilet, a visiting team from Anadolu Agency found.

Although very few of the people who are stuck in this make shift so-called camp are keen to speak to journalists as they are worried about their dream future in the U.K. and the danger of being sent back here, the Anadolu Agency team managed to speak to refugees who have been in the camp for many months.

Tiny, flimsy restaurants and grocery markets are lined up on the main street of the camp, which was named after British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Food and basic needs can be found inside the shacks-turned-stores.

“Jungle” cigarettes, rolled by the inhabitants and packed in tens, are the most sought-after products.

One of the refugees, Hashim from Afghanistan, is the owner of one of the restaurants located on the main street of the makeshift camp.

After many attempts to reach the U.K., he gave up hope and decided to find a way to make money within the camp, where he arrived six months ago.

Hashim built the Welcome Restaurant all by himself over the course of some three weeks.

Looking at the poor structure of the place, it is quite hard to tell that this place is only 280 kilometers from Paris, where world-famous, Michelin-rated restaurants serve gourmet French cuisine.

Hashim has lived in Macedonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, and Turkey, with the hope of living in the U.K., but he has given up that hope for some time now.

Hashim, who was forced from his homeland due to constant violence from the Taliban and Daesh, agreed to a picture for our cameras standing in front his restaurant. But most Jungle inhabitants refuse such photo requests, worn down by endless media interest.

Hashim’s wife and children still live in Khandahar, where he is originally from.

He said he has not seen his family for the last three years but added, “I will not leave this place until the security forces tear it down completely.”

He earns around 100-200 euros a day. Journalists and volunteers who work in the camp make up most of his customers. Refugees who live in the camp usually go to bed with an empty stomach. Hashim can speak Greek and German quite well, and says he learned English at the camp, or at least the patois known as “Jungle English” among the refugees.

Another such refugee, twenty-four-year-old Ali Shah is the owner of the most famous restaurant in the camp, called “Three Idiots.”

Originally from Pakistan, he started his business with two other Pakistani friends living in the Jungle.

Ali told Anadolu Agency that he once managed to make it to the U.K. but was sent back to France.

Ali said he no longer dreams about a life in the U.K. The three partners want to go to the U.S. or Canada with the money they made in the camp. Ali said over the past four years he had the chance to see all around Europe, but no country has a better refugee policy than any other.

The Calais Refugee Camp’s autonomous system makes it unique among refugee camps.

Neither the French government nor French humanitarian organizations have an effective role in the camp. According to the refugees, security is one of the most crucial issues. Even though there are many security forces around the camp, none of them intervene when incidents happen.

*Anadolu Agency correspondent Busra Akin Dincer contributed to this story.