Bombs, Teargas, and Knives: The Truth Serving in Two Worlds

My friends,

We have wonderful, enjoyable moments of community every day at the Maria Skobtsova House (MSH). We spend much of our day together eating, laughing, drinking coffee, and playing with children.

But yesterday morning all the volunteers at MSH received a stark reminder.

You see, a group of medical professionals came to the house while the guests were away for the afternoon. Their job is providing medical support in the various camps around Calais, but they also provide first aid training to volunteers and people on the move.

For us, they shared useful information about things that we most commonly see in our work at a house of hospitality:

• Tear gas aftercare

• Wound Care

• Chemical burn care

  
  

The training was at once incredibly insightful and seriously disturbing.

It’s easy for us who work in this situation to focus on the tasks immediately in front of us and forget about the broader context in which we serve. As the nurse who was leading the training described tear gas effects and chemical burn causes and treatments, I was given a shocking reminder of the very real danger the women and children of MSH face when they go out at night.

And what’s worse is that these dangers are perpetrated by the ones who should be protecting them—the police.

The nurse explained how the police will shoot their tear gas bombs regardless of where they are, whether there are children or private citizens present or not.

There was recently an uproar caused by footage captured by BBC of children being tear gassed at the French border. The governments quickly responded saying that this is not usual protocol.

This is an outright lie.

We know from personal experience that women and children are commonly tear gassed and that their boats are stabbed by the knives the police use. We have seen and cared for severe chemical burns caused when diesel fuel mixes with seawater as a result of police interventions.

These stories are very, very common.

And so I was happy to receive training about how I can better respond to the aftereffects of this police brutality, but I was deeply saddened by the reality that this is necessary.

And our work truly is necessary.

So please consider supporting our family’s work financially by clicking the button below. We can’t do this work without your support.

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