Forest Gate couple Simon Shaw and Lesley Hare have spent the summer supporting refugees in France as part of a project run by the charity Care4Calais. But their experience mending clothes and servicing bikes have led Simon and Lesley to dub themselves Repair4Calais!

Lesley said: “They are just boys mostly and need some looking after. I noticed how many had torn clothes, jeans that had holes in, pockets falling out and coats with rips in them. It’s not that easy to get good clothes in Calais and often the refugees want to keep the stuff they have but need it mended.”

So she made up some sewing kits for her latest trip. “At first I bought all sorts of fancy stuff to put in the kits but over the years have found that all I really need is a needle and spools of black thread. Mending tears is about my limit.”

Photos courtesy Care4Calais and Simon Shaw

The boys often call Lesley ‘mum, mama, mummy’ and ask if she can mend their clothes. “They sit down beside me and patiently wait. They are always so polite and respectful, it’s a pleasure to help them. Most have left families thousands of miles away. It’s a little bit of time just for them and they walk away with a coat that will last a few more weeks.

“One fellow came to me with both sleeves of his anorak about to fall off. It looked like a big job for a needle and thread, so I was getting up to go to the van to get him a new coat, but he stopped me. ‘ I don’t want a new coat, I want this one, it works, and I don’t want to lose it. ‘

“So many coats aren’t that waterproof, or the zip is broken, or they don’t fit that well, so when he’d found a coat he really liked he wanted to keep it. I set about sewing the sleeves back on. It took a while but he walked away with the biggest grin. It just warms my heart to sew for them.”

Simon, the other half of Repair4Calais mends bikes. “I’m no expert but can just about change a tyre. Bikes are so valuable here, they mean you can get to distributions, find food, make appointments and get to the shops. The bikes we mend are falling to pieces, held together with a wing and a prayer! There is maybe only one nut holding a wheel on, or the frame is so rusty it’s a miracle it holds the rider. We provide a few tools and some spare parts we have managed to source.”

Mostly refugees fix the bikes themselves and are incredibly resourceful. Simon watched a group of young men dismantle a bike and rebuild it using whatever they could find and scavenge from other bikes.

‘I had the idea to start the repair shop as I’m a cyclist myself and always take my bike with me. There’s some beautiful countryside to cycle through outside Calais. I’d be devastated if my bike broke but I know I would be able to replace it, but I thought the refugees can’t so how can we help them keep the bikes running?”

Lesley and Simon have been going to Calais for five years.

Simon said: “We’re not beach people, so this is ideal. I really enjoy helping in Calais, it gives you a buzz to be useful. I love talking to the refugees, really getting to know them and seeing what amazing people they are. You meet some great volunteers too. It is a way of doing something, not just talking about fighting racism but actually doing something concrete and anti-racist.”

To volunteer with Care4calais email Clare here and for more information check out this post on Facebook, their website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

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