Utopia56

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Utopia 56 is a citizenship organisation which manages humanitarian volunteer work with refugees in the slums and camps in northern France. We provide an affordable accommodation and a management in the field.

Following the Grande Synthe City Council’s request (near Dunkerque), we handled the teamwork of the first French camp with humanitarian standards since it had opened in March, 7th 2016 until May, 7th 2016. Utopia 56’s volunteers are proud of having contributed to the recognition of this first camp by the French State and are glad to hear the Paris City Council declaring the opening of a camp “on the model of Grande Synthe one”.

Utopia 56 will be gradually leaving the humanitarian camp of La Liniere and Grande Synthe and reinforce their efforts in other slums where refugees suffer the most difficulties. We will be leaving by end of September at the latest. Our departure could be sooner if the City hall of Grande Synthe and the Afeji, who are currently managing the camp, organise an earlier replacement.

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What is the volunteer work on the Linière camp in Grande Synthe about?

Today, this camp is reigned over by a tripartite agreement between the City Council, the State, and Afegi, but volunteer work is still as much necessary. Utopia 56 organises volunteer activities in the four community kitchens to feed the fire in frying pans, the food distribution points, the tea room, the laundry, to clean the camp, drive the shuffle between the camp and the supermarket, distribute clothes, be on call at night, and maintain an emergency phone service. While staying independent, we work in cooperation with Afegi, the City Council, the State and all the other local and European organisations acting in the camp.

What is the volunteer work in the other camps about?

We act in the Calais jungle essentially by helping picking rubbish so that this slum becomes no more a dump. A majority of refugees spend their whole night trying to come to Great Britain and their whole day trying to sort out how to eat and wash. They are not constantly concerned about rubbish in a camp they hope to leave as soon as possible. Utopia 56’s volunteers try to facilitate health in the slum.

Utopia 56

We are a citizenship organisation created in Lorient (Brittany) in January 2016. Our goal is to mobilize and manage volunteers to help refugees concentrated in northern France. We work in cooperation with all the organisations working on this territory for a while and willing to collaborate. We organise about 2700 volunteer work days a month and count 3000 members.

Do you want to bring donations?

Please contact Sébastien from Utopia 56 before you give anything. We have no warehouse on the Linière camp.

or 0677612929

Do you want to come and act?

You must subscribe on our website where you will give your dates. We can’t tell you in advance whether you will work in Grande Synthe or Calais. We will see once arrived and once the needs evaluated. We provide Utopia 56’s members a basic and community accommodation  (in a mobile-home, tent, dorm, or with a local) for 5 or 10 euros a day. You must book it 3 days in advance. If you subscribe and ask for accommodation in the same time, your request will be taken into account. A few days before you arrive, you will get an email with further information. The accommodation and the camp are too far from each other to walk from one point to the other. Volunteers organise themselves for the carsharing.