Texte / Thierry Peuchot
Good afternoon everyone,
Over the holidays, as we were exploring on ways to give back to communities, and looking to use music as a medium to re-introduce hope and laughter in peoples lives, I ran into an interesting person online: Jasmin.
Jasmin, also know as Jaz ditched her fashion job in London 18 months ago to join her brother (who ditched his advertising job) in a journey to defend the rights and self respect of refugees and created an organisation called http://theworldwidetribe.com
She documents the lives of people who travelled thousands of kilometers in hope of making it to the UK and start new lives, leaving people they loved behind or lost them along the way (the few stories you hear on any given day always include such hard details), only to get stuck a few miles away from their dream in Calais in a place you probably heard about on the news: The Jungle.
https://www.rt.com/news/319121-aerial-photos-calais-migrants/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/30/children-in-the-calais-jungle-take-pictures-of-inside-the-migrant-camp-5532896/
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/dec/11/banksy-uses-steve-jobs-artwork-to-highlight-refugee-crisis
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3415614/Banksy-paints-Les-Mis-themed-artwork-walls-near-French-Embassy-protest-against-use-tear-gas-Jungle-migrant-camp-Calais.html
I went to Calais on Tuesday to better understand the situation and help Jasmin make a small documentary (she is making a bigger one on life in the camp) around music in the camp. We met people of different nationalities who managed to keep or make instruments and often play for others, and documented a series small concerts we put on with a couple musicians who came down from the UK for the day. We also distributed some headphones so they could enjoy music in a better way every day.
The response was truly amazing, and to see the smiles on their faces felt even greater.
The film will be ready in a few days but I wanted to share some images from the day. I am aslo hoping to get Jaz and her brother over to Zurich for a presentation on the 11th of February. I will follow up o that in the next few days as well.
Lets do some good.
