Volunteer Spotlight: Meredith Wheeler Helps Refugees in Southwestern France

Meredith Wheeler, an American living in the town of Lautrec, in Southwestern France, on helping refugees in her area.

I’m an American, originally from suburban Chicago. With my British husband, I’ve been living deep in the countryside of southwestern France for 16 years.

As the refugee crisis began to ramp up in Europe, I wondered how I could help. I’m a stranger in a strange land myself.

Facebook is an invaluable organizing tool. That was my “way in” to volunteering. I noticed people of good will were setting up Facebook groups all over France, with the goal of helping refugees.

At 63, I didn’t think I had the energy and stamina to launch myself to the frontline in Lesbos, much as I admire the volunteers who do.

I soon realized that I didn’t need to go to Greece or even Calais to help refugees–there were about 250 Syrians sheltering in condemned housing one hour away in a poor neighborhood of Toulouse.

Back in September, an appeal went out for winter clothing for the refugees. I raided our own over-stuffed closets and asked friends and neighbors for donations.

Volunteers were organizing what the French call a “gouter” or “snacks” in the park for the Syrians. With an American friend we planned to attend and bring our donations of food and clothing.

I asked our local baker if he would give us any leftover loaves of bread for the refugees–and he was happy to oblige. Some people are quite willing to help–they are just waiting to be asked.

With a van full of donations, we drove to the afternoon event. What happened next was a salutary lesson in effective giving. We had tried to ensure all our donations were clean and ironed. I brought a clothes line with the intention of hanging up and displaying the donated clothing. We brought sheets to lay on the ground, to spread out whatever couldn’t be hung.

It didn’t go to plan!

Young Syrian men volunteered to unload our van. They spoke neither English nor French (despite what you see on TV) and we didn’t speak Arabic. The few Arabic translators present were busy elsewhere.

The helpers simply emptied the bags onto the dirty ground into a great mound. Some of the men began rifling through the items. The Syrian woman present in the park didn’t even come look.
It lacked all dignity.

With other volunteers, I scrambled to arrange to donations on sheets: children’s clothing, women’s, men’s. Some Syrian children grabbed a plastic ball I’d thrown in at the last minute and had fun kicking it around the park. I showed one shy boy how to throw a frisbee. I kicked myself for not bringing more toys.

It was a hot day and the Syrians showed no interest in winter coats, scarfs, hats and mittens!
I tried to mime that the weather would soon be very cold: “brrrr!!!”–but on a sweltering September day in full sun, it wasn’t convincing.

The beautiful young Syrian women wearing long, elegant national costumes stayed well away.
Some sat on a wall together, one nursing an infant. I brought out jars of honey from my own beehive and presented them to each woman, saying “honey–miel”, dismayed by the yawning cultural and language gap.

I was stunned to see so many Syrian children of all ages, dressed like kids anywhere, rushing about, laughing, playing, helping themselves to the sweets and snacks on the heavily laden table of goodies.

These were families–husbands, wives, grandparents, teens, children.

The Syrian men were smaller and slimmer than my husband. Little of his donated clothing was going to be suitable. Most of what was on offer for the women was useless too.

More sacks of donated clothing arrived and were dumped unceremoniously onto the ground.

I was on a steep learning curve.

As the autumn progressed, the situation improved.

Those working closely with the refugees began posting exactly what was needed. The building where they are squatting had no heating–so electric radiators were needed. Hot plates, kettles and microwaves for cooking were sought as well as food and hygiene products.

I scouted local second-hand shops for useful items at bargain prices.

As word of the “wish list” circulated, my nearest American neighbor, Joan, bought 50€ worth of brand new cleaning products and dropped them off at my house.

I shared this online via social media and more friends began to donate.

Documenting the story with photography is important. With pictures, the situation becomes more vivid for family and friends reading about it from afar.

They saw that donations of money would quickly be turned into food and goods that suffering refugees urgently need.

My ex-husband in New York sent a generous donation. Others friends also contributed cash. Present husband and I went shopping at the discount supermarket, buying 285€ euros worth of needed goods. Hey, that was fun!

Two American friends in the area started canvassing their chums for donations. We would rendezvous at a motorway carpark, load all the goods into one car–or sometimes two–and drive to our “drop-off” point near Toulouse. Jean-Philippe has a huge garage and he could sort and store items–or transfer needed material immediately to the families in Toulouse.

Facebook groups assisting refugees have multiplied and I try to follow the various initiatives.
One British couple in the Tarn drove a truck load of donations to Calais and spent over a week there building make-shift housing for refugees in the “jungle” camp–better than flimsy tents as winter approached. We had been deluged with clothing donations in Toulouse, so excess items needed to be sent onward.

I try to watch what others are doing and share their appeals for assistance.

But mainly I have focused on trying to be helpful to those nearest me.

My own village of Lautrec (population about 1000) has a small group wishing to house a refugee family. This is only possible because the Pope called on all Catholic dioceses to house a refugee family. (Vatican City has taken in a family.)

Our village priest was amenable to setting up a committee.

A representative of the Archbishop in Albi (bald man in above image) explained that some refugees who had finally obtained asylum status–thus the right to stay in France–were refusing to accept housing in French villages. That was a blow.

We decided to organize a “day out” for some of the Toulouse refugees in our village–which is a hilltop bastide that has a designation as one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France. We plan to take them for a walk to see the restored windmill atop of the hill with beautiful views of the Black Mountains and the Pyrenees; perhaps we’ll tour the little wooden shoe museum. We’ll walk the quaint cobbled streets of Lautrec. We plan a lunch in keeping with their culinary requirements. For the children we’ll organize games and activities. The goal is to allay fears of isolation and show that life in a French village is pleasant. We plan to hire a bus for transport and proposed the project to volunteers working closely with the Syrians in Toulouse. They welcomed it.

Then the terrible terrorist attack in Paris killing 130 people took place in December. The French are feeling vulnerable and wounded.

In Toulouse, authorities have started a crack down on the refugees, many of whom arrived via Spain. Under the current Dublin convention they should be seeking asylum in Spain and not be here in France.

Toulouse authorities recently bulldozed a house where several Syrian families had been sheltering for months, without even allowing the refugees 15 minutes to collect their meager possessions. The house looked like a bomb had destroyed it–but we weren’t in Syria, this is France.

Papers are being served now on Syrians seeking sanctuary in Toulouse, which could lead to their swift expulsion.

The French system is to organize in “associations” which have legal status. I am affiliated to one that has enlisted lawyers who are working pro bono to help the Syrians resist deportation. We are circulating a petition and writing directly to officials in the Toulouse town hall in hopes of a reprieve.
A demonstration was organized outside the Toulouse Town Hall and we are hoping to generate more media attention.

As a former journalist I was shocked to hear that the main regional newspaper in Toulouse refused to report the bulldozing of the Syrian refugees’ home for fear of annoying the city government. The French here cannot fully grasp what is happening to refugees if they rely only on mainstream media.

For now we await a court verdict, which may condemn some Syrians in Toulouse to return to Spain, where they fear their situation will be more degrading. Syrian children now enrolled in French schools will face another disruptive move.

It is easy to feel demoralized by the enormity of the refugee problems and the abject failure of governments to show humanity. I am especially dismayed by the glaring absence of the well-known NGOs on the scene.

There is a political angle here for Americans too. Since 2012, the US has accepted 2174 Syrian refugees – roughly 0.0007% of America’s total population. President Obama committed to taking 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming year. This compares to roughly 800,000 accepted in Germany in 2015. The United States–a nation of immigrants–could be doing far more. Sadly the debate is clouded by a backlash of fear and Islamophobia stoked in this election year by some of the very men running for President.

I’ve been involved with Democrats Abroad for over a decade. As a network of activated American citizens in every country of Europe we witness this humanitarian crisis at close hand. Not since Jews, artists and intellectuals fled the Third Reich has Europe witnessed anything of this magnitude.

If nothing else, we hope to lobby the U.S. government to accept many more refugees than the pitiful limit currently in place and to devote more resources to the process of vetting.

Back on the ground in Lautrec, I need to raise money to buy diapers and hygiene products for the Syrian refugees. Our association is putting in place a more sophisticated food distribution system that will allow each Syrian family to buy groceries for themselves–but necessary non-food items are not included.

My next plan is to host a potluck supper for the scattering of volunteers around me in the countryside here, so we don’t lose heart. We still hope to host Syrian refugees in our village. We need to keep on keeping on for those truly in desperate need.

 Volunteer Spotlight: Meredith Wheeler Helps Refugees in Southwestern France