Some of the gentlest, humblest people we meet in Calais are the Sudanese. They ask only for the things they need to survive - and its a bare survival at that. They are grateful for the little we can give and refuse what they do not need. They accept the brutal way they are treated in France and still offer our volunteers a smile and a thank you. All they want is a place to live in peace, away from the bloody atrocity and torture that is ever-present in Sudan.

The people of Da...rfur have watched their villages burn to the ground, their women raped, their children enslaved and their livelihoods destroyed in a conflict that began in 2003. Except this isn’t really a conflict, it is an ongoing genocide disguised as civil war. Chemical weapons shred the skin from children and leave them red raw in a land where medical care and water are scarce. The crops are burned and animals shot, leaving villages to starve, so people can not rebuild. The women rounded up and raped, and child soldiers are made.

This winter, in the freezing cold and rain, refugees are sleeping rough around France with only a sleeping bag or blanket for shelter. Imagine being so afraid of being spotted by the police that you prefer to sleep outside on the ground rather than putting up a tent.

A tent is more conspicuous, and on the streets of Paris or fields around Calais the police simply clear them away as soon as they are spotted. With temperatures getting down to minus six degrees overnight, a b...lanket is just not enough.

#WomanToWoman #WeCare

Informal settlements anywhere in the world are dangerous places, especially for women. Forced to sleep in a crowded wooden shack surrounded by men, women’s needs and dignity can be forgotten. Going out at night alone is forbidden by culture and no safe: The camp is dark and lawless; Smugglers and opportunists lurk in the shadows. Rape is a real threat and the shame it brings can be even worse.

An undignified bucket in the corner of your shack is humilia...ting when your co-inhabitants are male; even if there was room for it. Every inch of space is precious in these shacks. Children are restless sleepers and a bucket can be kicked over in an instant.

The forgotten ones...

Early evening, a grey drizzle. In the orange black glow of the park, we meet two Eritrean boys, Hami and Abdi, both aged 16. Unlike many of the Eritrean boys we meet, they speak very little English. Unsurprisingly, they are guarded. Why should they trust random strangers in a Calais park. Gradually we piece together the bare bones of a story. They were in the Jungle; when the camp was pulled down, they were placed in a CAO in Marseilles. Both of them he...

As 2016 draws to an end we are reflecting on the year.

Care4Calais began in August 2015 and we had no idea that we would still be here a year and a half later. The situation was uncertain then and we're sad to say it is still so today.

The camp known as the 'Jungle' was demolished twice this year and twice we have seen that trying to sweep the problem under the carpet is futile and does nothing to solve the actual crisis. There are still hundreds of people coming to Calais ...and now, instead of them all being in one place, they are dispersed in smaller camps in the surrounding area or living on the streets in Paris. This is just what we feared; all that it has achieved is making the public less aware of the reality of the situation. The 'Jungle' may have gone but this doesn't mean the people have, destroying the camp has done nothing to solve the war and conflict people are fleeing and therefore they will keep on coming.

Our founder Clare Moseley tells us why this year, her Christmas shopping is going to look a bit different.

'Instead of presents I go to Primark and buy 30 pairs of skinny jeans in sizes 26, 28 and age 13/14. All my family and friends will get to donate jeans to refugees. It’s not just about clothing these young people. Sometimes we want to make them happy too. Teenagers that age love fashion, so we want to let them feel good for once.

We are making an appeal to anyone who kn...ows kids of that age who will be throwing out clothes, second hand tablets, smartphones, or anything suitable for teenagers after Christmas, to think about donating these to refugees in Calais.

"Her [Angela Merkel"s] legacy is that she did a decent thing, despite the criticism. Thousands of Germans welcomed the migrants and opened their homes. However well or badly that went they were decent, they were kind, they were open.

Amri was not a refugee. He was a wrong 'un before he was radicalised, a wrong 'un afterwards, and he'll be just as wrong when he's shot dead by the police on his trail and finds out there's no heaven for wrong 'uns.

We are at war - with a few tho...usand people out there who want to kill us, and a few thousand in here who want to frighten us. Who bend the truth to suit their nightmares, to seize power, to get paid for spouting stupidity, and who simply don't care when they've got it wrong.