AO051 Life in a Migrant Camp: La Grande Sythe

Wednesday, 5 October 2016

6:30pm - 7:45pm

Cost: Free

Ubiquitous trash, orphaned boots, mattresses, strollers and  blankets marooned in mud were some of the things Audrey O’Reilly encountered a year ago on her first trip to the Grande Sythe refugee camp near Calais where she had decided to help as a volunteer. For periods ranging from a few days to one week, she continues to assist, doing menial tasks such as cooking and cleaning, still often overwhelmed by the magnitude of what is needed. Assailed by multiple emotions, such as that of being “only a voluntourist” as compared to people who devote their lives to such projects, she will share with us not only the day to day experience, but also how profoundly she has been changed by her involvement, if only by realizing that any action, however small, is valuable.

Audrey O’Reilly is an Irish transplant to Paris where she continues to exercise her double profession as writer and film maker, but also finds time to draw, paint and create original jewelry.