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| Jonny Willis and Ben Teuten inside the Jungle camp at Calais. Photograph by Felix Clay for the Guardian |
Ben Teuten and Jonny Willis (DEP 2014/15) write, We have in the year succeeding our Masters at Oxford Brookes University in Development and Emergency Practice, founded Refugee Youth Service (RYS), the leading agency for child protection in the Calais camp nicknamed ‘The Jungle’.
We decided to go to the Jungle to volunteer for six weeks. Once there we noticed neglect in support for teenage boys and with the help of another young man, Aske Kreilgaard, set up ‘Baloo’s Youth Centre’. In the ensuing months ‘Baloo’s Youth Centre’ has evolved into the ‘Refugee Youth Service’ as the organisation has expanded its work and reach.
The cornerstone of the organisation is the Youth Centre itself that acts as a safe, protective environment for 10 – 18 year olds in the camp, where they can come and relax away from daily stress and adult influence. Originally started as just a safe space, our service soon branched out to incorporate both sports and education. In November 2015 we founded a football team nicknamed ‘Jungle United’ by the youth and were soon holding football matches three times a week with their latest opponents being Fulham Boys School in May 2016.
Education quickly followed as the Service began to provide schooling from three times a week to one hour a day for boys who had not been to school in over a year. We are increasing this further by developing the programme with the help of our educational coordinator who plans to collaborate with other schools in the camp to ensure one-to-one teaching is available all day every day for those who want it.
A large part of Refugee Youth Service’s work occurs outside of the Youth Centre. In December 2015, we created and developed a tracking and monitoring system that allows us to check up on individual boys week in, week out to ensure they are safe and emotionally stable. We have since expanded this as the role of the Service has moved increasingly into the child protection. With up to 150 youth in the system, the tracking and monitoring notifies the Service when one individual needs extra support.
Acting as a referral network, we coordinate with the specialists in that field to ensure that the child is given the best support available. As well as this, the tracking and monitoring also notifies us when one child has left the Jungle. The team then attempts to contact the missing individual to ensure that they are safe. If no contact is made, we work alongside the French authorities to file a missing persons report. This is vital as the children in the camp have gone ‘under the radar’ so to speak and the state is often unaware of their presence, thus neglecting their protection.
RYS are now also working in coordination with the legal teams in the camp to aid the youth in family reunification when appropriate. As well as this, we are working alongside the French asylum system to aid those wishing to settle in France, which involves weekly visits to accommodation centres in the Pas-de-Calais to provide the youth with additional support.
It is an incredibly exciting time for us as the organisation has evolved rapidly in the six-months it has been around. RYS is now the leading agency for child protection in the Calais camp and the team has expanded from the original three to eight international volunteers and two community members, with a third expected in the near future. As well as this, we have partnered with Medecins Sans Frontières to create a ‘youth only’ area in the North of Camp that will hold the Youth Centre as well as an educational space and psychological and legal centres.
Although recent violence has postponed this move it is still expected to go ahead in the coming weeks. Finally, RYS is looking to replicate its Calais service in the La Liniere Camp in Dunkirk. Currently in its embryonic stage, our team aim to develop the support systems needed there to aid social development and protect the young people from the dangers that they face daily.
