Calais migrants: Life in the Jungle | Guardian Features

tensions have risen in the port of

calais

last week

migrants

in

calais

chase a lorry bound for england a man stands in broad daylight with striking ferry workers causing travel chaos in the french port of cali the news of Television shows have been filled with dramatic truck scenes and desperate

migrants

trying to break into them to reach the UK. We need to do more to make sure Britain is a less easy place for illegal immigrants, but away from the motorways and the port, something different is happening in Cali. The new migrant camp is growing rapidly and becoming permanent.

Those living here are part of Europe's growing refugee crisis. Large numbers of people fleeing poverty and conflict now face a new challenge. Life in the

jungle

. student in Sudan but was forced to flee in 2011 After years trapped in Libya, he arrived in the

jungle

six months ago. No one counts how many people live here, but most agree that at least three thousand people arrive every day, and every time we return, the jungle feels more and more permanent. They are difficult, but everywhere there are signs of a community striving to create something resembling a normal

life

, cafes and grocery stores have opened, seeing the demand for bicycles, a friend of fados, a sedan car mechanic , has created its own bike rental and repair service in the camp. this hut built with pallets will soon be a school and here will be the teacher's table he will put a blackboard here you have a window and we do everything possible you know that many of those fleeing atreya are Christians and have been persecuted for their faith in the jungle They're building a church sometimes you need a little quality time with yourself you know you can't come here you can't read you can pray you can't think so you're a freshman and it should be easy for you because this is your guard house can be anywhere David's family left Eritrea after his father died and he spent years as refugees in Sudan.

His

life

there was so desperate that he left for the United Kingdom, leaving his two-year-old son behind. I want to bring it. If I can and want to be a good father to him, it is difficult, very difficult, but thank God I am still happy in life. David has promised himself that when the church is almost built he will try to get the church in England to have a priest, but he did not want to wait if there is no priest, so you pray alone, does that happen to priests before? Yes, there was a guy who went to the British, so we don't have a prison even when the camp becomes permanent in the In the jungle, everything is temporary, it seems that word has spread in the camp that it is forming A traffic jam on the highway that crosses the top of the camp has caused a lot of interest, many people are now rushing to get up. towards trucks to see if they can get into the back immigrants regularly complain about harsh treatment by police officers frequently use pepper spray and are funded with millions of pounds of British money the other main response from the authority is reinforce security yesterday we were Here and there there were groups of immigrants who ran intermittently along this bank from the camp trying to pass the police towards the highway in the back of the trucks.

Today we returned to find that the authorities are easily erecting what looks like a rather intimidating barrier. The fence is going to run presumably from where you can see now to here on the side of the highway that closes the camp with Baldwin at the top, obviously the idea is to try to prevent immigrants from going up this bank and reaching the motor and truck fado and his friends are preparing for istha, when they will break their fast. Tonight they are provided with one meal a day on site. The local Algerian community has bought them extra food.

Fadal, like many others in the camp, has applied for asylum in France, but without support, he has no choice but to live in the jungle for months while his claim is processed. For those trying to get to Britain, it's a great night at the entrance to the Euro Tunnel, the lorry queues are still backed up. After the strikes closed the terminal, it's a pretty strange scene we have here, in front of us, there are dozens of immigrants trying to get on the back of these trucks. They are queuing for the euro tunnel. There are truckers who are getting quite a bit. furious coming out to stop them there are police involved I have never seen anything like this at the access to the euro tunnel why do you want to go to the UK?

Education yes, freedom will work. Britain still accepts far fewer asylum seekers than France. Nobody. You know how many people have made it through in the last six weeks and how many will apply for asylum, but we do know that on nights like this, over a thousand people a night are detained twice today and the police come out, you try again, I try. Again we returned to Calais for a third trip, two weeks later, the fence between the bike and the jungle now complete. Another exit is closed, but migrants continue to arrive. That's when we meet Khalid, the eight-year-old Syrian boy, with a severely injured leg.

He had just arrived with his mother three years ago. Khalid and his mother fled their hometown of Aleppo, which has been devastated by war, since So they have moved from country to country trying to find a place to settle and receive treatment for Khalid's legs Although the atmosphere in the camp is grim, word is spreading that several people have died trying to board trains and trucks . Faddel is still waiting for news about his asylum application. He is concerned about the risks to people abroad. We've been told that there is um, a part of the cemetery where immigrants are buried if their family or friends can't afford to take their bodies home and then about 10 minutes ago we were told that there was a baby, a baby by born who died when his mother fell. she fell from a truck a few days ago and had a miscarriage the mother has disappeared and only two officials and two gravediggers are present they ask us not to film the funeral samir was one of at least six who have died in recent weeks we arrived at the camp and found Khalid's tent empty.

By chance we caught up with them as they were leaving. They have a two-hour walk to the Euro Tunnel terminal, then have to avoid the police and try to get into a truck or jump onto a moving train Khalid's dream after three years a dream in the UK and why United Kingdom Khalid Britannia my school and my passport and my nationality and my to do my leg that I love so much um other people in their group had gotten nervous and asked us to stop filming we have to wish them good luck I guess it's just a lot to ask of a small child who goes for a two-hour walk and tries to get on a moving train while Fadel goes to school the hut we saw on our first visit is now a fully equipped classroom and teachers have come from local schools to foreign volunteers.

The church is also almost complete. We ask about David, but people say he is gone. Although Khalid and his mother had to abandon the attempt, her leg hurt too much to walk. Beyond Britain, Khalid and his mother are caught in a family trap. They have been told that Syrians who manage to reach Britain are granted asylum. The challenge is how to get there. They are already foreigners. How many children was that the riskiest part of life? These children, these mothers, these innocent people have undertaken this journey, they are literally in the hands of the sea and in the hands of death.