Bradon Muilenberg works as the Anglican Refugee Support Lead in Calais.  This is the first of monthly updates from Bradon reporting on the work he is doing and some of the stories of those refugees he comes alongside.  Each month he will also ask for a specific prayer request and suggest a way that you can practically help.

The video is here, and below is the transcript.

"Hello, my name is Bradon Muilenberg. I'm the Anglican Refugee Support Lead in Northern France. You might be wondering what this is behind me. These are the names of just a few of the people who have lost their lives on the UK-France border since 1999.

This has actually been the most deadly year on record. There's been an exponential increase in the amount of people that have died. Out of the absolute minimum, more than 70 people have died this year, just since January.

My... So I mean, it's important to remember these people by name if we can. I'm thinking especially of... There's a two-year-old who died not too... In the last couple of months. I mean, seven-year-old Rula, seven-year-old Sarah, and 40-day-year-old Miriam. But just remember that these are real people with... Who lived and laughed and played and had dreams and hopes that those were sadly extinguished by...the border policies that we have. 

My wife and I, we took the ferry across to London recently, and it was this moment where you just feel the stark contrast, the inequality in... We didn't have a particularly good reason. My 18-month-old son didn't have a particularly good reason to go to the UK, but there are people who have already had to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean, who've been through some of the...worst things that human beings do to each other who a right to asylum, who have a 99 % chance of acceptance if they get to the UK from Eritrea, for example, but they have no way to claim asylum unless they risk their life yet again on a small boat. We saw things just crossing the channel that we'd never seen before, even in being here trying to support refugees for more than four years.

My wife saw one of the bodies, one of the four that washed up that morning on the beach, just as the ferry was leaving the port. And then just outside the window, close enough that we could see the outlines of people, see their life jackets. We saw a small boat. I was just happy that they had life jackets that so often they get criminalized and taken away by the police.

So it's just this moment to ask why are we allowed to cross? Why just because we have these passports and others not? I really want to ask you to be connected to these people in your prayers to remember the families of those who have died, to come alongside them and to mourn with those who mourn. And if at all you have the...the ability, even if it's a small amount, even if it's five pounds, 10 euros, whatever it may be, I really want to ask you to take action too and to come alongside these families and support. Attached to this video is a link that money will go directly to specifically the families that don't have any other way to pay for their loved one to be buried in a very simple way, just the minimum amount of dignity and respect for their faith. So as people of faith, I think it's an opportunity for us to come alongside, to surround these people with whatever little comfort we can in a terrible moment. I want to thank you so much for listening to this video and I look forward to sharing with you again next month.

This has been just an on the ground report from November 2024."