Posted on September 12, 2024 at 8:25 pm
is a registered charity which links with like minded individuals, charities, NGO’s and companies for the empowerment of the underprivileged world wide. With a mission to raise awareness on worldwide social issues and with the help of our partners, Link Universal helps to educate, empower and bring aid to marginalized children, orphans, widows families and adults in Africa, Asia and Europe.
Making a difference in the world in which we live is the driving force behind Link Universal and to engage our children – the next generation – in helping those less fortunate is a driving motivation.
This year Link Universal has partnered up with Eve McGrath, a very special young lady who has agreed to be the face of the Dil Eyre Project which supports the women, children and families who live in the Calais refugee camp in France.
The refugee crisis is a story that is dominating the news headlines and everyone seems to have an opinion. However, it is war that has driven women, children and families from their homes and it is shear desperation and a lack of choice that they are now living in the chaos of the Calais refugee camp. Dubbed ‘The Jungle’ living conditions in this camp have been described as inhumane, insanitary and unsafe. With a thriving black market, the fact that there are many unaccompanied minors, with no family, means that they are prey for traffickers.
For want of a better word, it is an uncomfortable environment and witnessed firsthand by Dil Eyre who has been working and volunteering at the camp since last year. For Dil, the slum, dire conditions and feelings of despair from those that live at the camp is something that cannot be ignored. As such he has been actively fundraising for the underprivileged who live there and is a frequent visitor at the camp, giving hands on aid.
Whether it be handing out hot drinks and meals or supplying clothes, blankets or shoes, no job is too small for Dil if it means making the lives of those in need a little more comfortable. He and his friends even clean up the accumulated waste that is left lying around the camp so as to ease the feeling of desolation.
During Link Universal’s latest conversation with Dil, he told us of the dire consequences of the February demolition of the Southern part of the Calais camp. This saw an estimated 3,455 refugees evicted from their make shift homes, around 305 of these being unaccompanied children! To keep positive and making strides forwards, seems such an uphill battle and as Dil explains…….
Unfortunately for Dil and those volunteers that work with him, part of that demolition included their kitchen which was a life line for those in need of hot drinks, food and a general chit chat.
The ‘Jungle’ is definitely a terrifying place for your average Brit to visit and it seems unimaginable for us to ever have to live in such squalor, fear and uncertainty. As grown ups the frustration of being kept like prisoners would be enough to drive anyone over the edge but what about all those unaccompanied children? What must their life be like at this very moment in time? The majority of these children have lost their parents and siblings and are having to fend for themselves in a country and environment that they are unaccustomed to. One dreads to think of the vulnerability of these minors and the shear desperation they must feel.
Luckily for us, the chances are, we will never get to see this first hand nor would we want to – a life free from such stark realities is a far more comfortable existence!
Yet what about those volunteers that do visit the Jungle and give of their time? That have seen the inhumane conditions people are forced to live in and can’t shake the images from their minds? Surely our support of them in their quest to help those in dire need can only be a good thing? As such, I appeal to all those who are able, to please give to the Dil Eyre Project and remain safe in the knowledge that you did not ignore the very real and tangible cries for help.
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