HELPING to feed the thousands of refugees still trapped in camps in Calais is a challenging but rewarding experience, say two volunteers from Swindon.

Kathryn Hay drove with friends Marina Strinkovsky and Hannah Parry to volunteer with grass-roots charity Refugee Community Kitchen to prepare food and meals for refugees desperately trying to reach safety and asylum in the UK.

Kathryn said: “It’s amazing what these organisations are doing. It was so organised. I was really impressed.

“We had the briefing, had the tour, and were set to work in the kitchens chopping veg. We peeled a lot of garlic!

“The system that has been set up over time is so good that people like us can just walk off the ferry and slot in for a couple of days.

“It’s amazing what they’ve achieved over there, with no money. Oxfam and MSF, with all of their cash, should be so lucky as to have an operation so slick.”

But the hardy volunteers, who have visited the camps multiple times, also spoke of the inhumane treatment and conditions at the camps.

“The conditions are just bleak. It’s really exposed and there’s a really bitter wind,” said Kathryn. “I was there in May last year at one of the camps and I was wearing four layers and shivering while talking to these guys with no shoes, no coat, no sleeping bag, sleeping there on the ground.

They said that French police tryied to move the occupants on by confiscating tents and destroying possessions carried by the refugees, also stopping the charities from providing support.

“At the moment they’re desperate for tents because the camps are being cleared on a daily basis,” she said.

“Almost every day they would cordon off a particular area, would stop the organisations from coming in to help,” added Marina.

“Sometimes they would give people a 30-minute grace period to let people get their possessions out of the tents, but sometimes they don’t take them away, they just slash them to let the water in.”

“Going to the camps is a lot more rewarding than some other volunteer experiences. Every muscle in your body is going to be put to hard labour for an immediate and worthwhile cause. It’s a lot less pampering but a lot more rewarding.”

She added: “You confront your privilege and it changes your priorities. You think to yourself ‘I don’t care about that promotion or a five per cent raise in my pay... I’ve got a bed, I’ve got a house, I’m warm and safe and I live in a country where people don’t get snatched up off the street’.”