A MAN from Launceston has told of his time spent in northern France just before Christmas, in an aim to help the struggling refugees in need.

Robert Butler, from Launceston, who works for FedEx, has been involved in helping with the refugee crisis for nearly three years, and is part of an organisation called Mobile Refugee Support. In 2017 alone, he has travelled to France six times and spent approximately five weeks working on the ground over there. Trips can vary in length, with some lasting seven days and others a long weekend. Rob’s most recent trip, from Friday, December 14 to Sunday, December 17, saw him travel to France on a Friday evening and get back home on the following Sunday afternoon.

Rob has worked in Dunkirk, Calais, Brussels and Norrent-Fontes, near Lens, dropping food and carrying out distributions. On some occasions throughout the year, teams from the organisation have been sent over to help, with a team of eight being taken over in February and a team of five in May. However, other trips see Rob and his friend Rowley carry out the distributions.

On their most recent trip, Rob took his 15-year-old daughter along with him. He said: “I felt she needed a bit of a reality check — and she got one in the early hours of Sunday morning.”

During their time there, they go out on night-time patrols, often finding people huddled under bridges and hidden away in other areas. He said: “We pull up and offer them sleeping bags or blankets, depending on what we have, and food and water — usually high energy food; cereal bars, nuts, fruit, that sort of thing.”

Referring to his daughter, Rob continued: “Anyway, she ended up giving a couple of blankets to two unaccompanied minors. One was her age, 15 — the other 14. These minors are one of the reasons we went to Westminster, as previously reported on. It made her realise how lucky she is.”

Rob was involved in the clean-up of the most recent Boardmasters festival, near Newquay, which saw him return home with 300 sleeping bags. He appealed for local help in washing and drying sleeping bags, which received a massive response. He also travelled to Westminster in October to make Conservative North Cornwall MP, Scott Mann, aware of the growing concern regarding child refugees sleeping rough.

Much of the work involved in their trips is distributions. They have a van with specific items on board, targeting a specific need.

On Saturday, December 16, the team carried out a blanket distribution to provide warmth over night for people sleeping in the woods and in tents, as temperatures are below freezing.

Rob said: “We also have a generator to charge mobile phones and have a device that goes in any vehicle, and we can provide free WiFi anywhere, anytime. It’s incredible to watch people FaceTime family and not worry about the cost; the little credit they have, they have to save for emergencies, so this really allows people to connect.

“For some families, it’s the first time they know they are alive,” he continued. “It’s a mixture in France of refugees and migrants. There is still a war going on in Syria, still unrest in Iraq and Afghanistan, and bombings and other atrocities going on all over the Middle East.

“Dunkirk has a large number of Kurdish people, who were in the camp that burned down a few months ago; some from Kirkuk that was terrorised by Isis and by Iraq itself. Some speak English, some have family here; they don’t wish to stay in France. The French themselves have just released a report alledging police brutality — minors being beaten, over-use of tear gas — the list goes on. A French police officer has recently been jailed for it. I certainly wouldn’t want to stay there.”

It isn’t just Syria that is suffering, according to Rob. He said: “People need to look at Africa as well — the civil wars, the famine, the war that has ripped Sudan apart. There’s a reason people are escaping and we all share a responsibility. We are all human beings at the end of the day. Plus if you step away from mainstream newspapers and media outlets and do your own research, we in the west really do owe these people. The damage we have done to some of these countries is why people are here — from military involvement to selling arms to others, we share a responsibility.”

The situation in France is ‘worse’ at the moment, and does not look like it is getting better. Paris, Calais and Dunkirk are all areas where refugees are suffering.

Rob said: “Realistically, if the UK stepped up — and other European countries — we could re-house everyone. These people have skills that would benefit others; facts prove they barely take anything from the system and are worth millions and millions to the British economy.

“I work with a number of charities in Cornwall, all involved in the refugee crisis — Open Hearts, Open Borders run by Faraday at Saltash; Amanda and the team at Wadebridge Cornish Refugee Aid Project; One and All Aid; Refugee Aid — all of these groups have loads of volunteers who give up time to sort donations, box stuff up, load vans and shipping containers and raise money to make all of these trips work.

“The WiFi I mentioned is being funded by Open Hearts, Open Borders for six months with a fundraiser in place to fund it for a further six. Also, we help loads of local charities with donations and other help — not just in Europe, but in Cornwall as well.”

Rob has also been helping people locally. He spotted a camp in a woodland at Penryn on Friday, December 15, with two homeless men living in the woods. He has been helping them recently by providing tents, sleeping bags, blankets, food, torches and wood.

Rob added: “We will help anyone regardless of race, religion or creed, and we don’t care where they are — the UK, France, Brussels, Greece, Syria — if we can help, we will.”

There are a number of local projects in the Post area, all with a shared aim of helping refugees. The Bude Refugee Support Group this year welcomed a refugee family to be resettled in Bude, and are looking forward to resettling a second family in 2018. The Launceston Refugee Support Group is also working towards resettling a refugee family in its town.

Anyone in Launceston wishing to find out more about donating items to the cause should visit the Launceston Refugee Support Group Facebook page.

Donations can be dropped off on Tuesdays at Central Methodist Church from 10am until 12pm.

Similarly, people can find out more about Bude Refugee Support Group by visiting their Facebook page, Bude Welcomes Refugees, or their website at buderefugeesupportgroup.org.uk.

Donations can be dropped off at any point to Westlands, Helebridge Road, Marhamchurch, EX23 0HZ or 86 Victoria Road, Bude, EX23 8RH.