A WOMAN from Devizes, who has been volunteering in Calais, experiencing the harsh reality of the migrant camps, is urging others to help and to sympathise with the plight of the refugees.

Tina Lister, 30, of London Road, Devizes, travelled to Calais after seeing news reports on how people are suffering, wanting to offer practical help.

Mrs Lister, a support worker for adults with learning disabilities, said: “I have a six-year-old daughter, and I basically put myself in their shoes and thought, if I had to go through this with my child I would hope we got the help we needed. For four months I cried into my laptop watching these children drown or rot in appalling conditions in camps all over Europe.

“I remember thinking, if people stop volunteering it puts future volunteers off going, and how detrimental that would be for all the people in the camps. It's not what people are saying it is, and the only way I could do this was by going to one of the camps and bringing back my experience of the Calais Jungle.”

Mrs Lister spent a week in France at the start of the month. When she arrived the conditions in the camps came as a shock, showing her what straits the migrants were living in, at the end of what for many has been a journey covering thousands of miles.

“On the last three days I joined food distributions and went into one of the camps for the first time, Dunkirk. There was a heavy police presence as aid is often denied and you need papers to do distributions. Building material is not allowed and if you are caught trying to smuggle tents in you could get arrested.

“The camp was just mud, people being forced to sleep in mud, wet tents everywhere and so many children. Women are giving birth in tents and little to no medical aid in the camp. Many are very ill or even dying due to the cold. It took everything for me not to break down, nothing prepares you for it,” Mrs Lister said.

After seeing the conditions the migrants are living in, Mrs Lister has decided she wants to go back to help again.

“I do find myself getting emotional when I look outside and see frost covering the landscape, that over there are 600-800 children out in it 24/7. I just keep busy helping as best I can while I'm not able to physically be there," she said. "I have also had several friends sign up who are also going out there to volunteer since coming back.

“I plan to go back within the next two months, but I may go as soon as mid-February depending on how long it takes for me to raise the funds,” she added.

If you would like to donate to Mrs Lister’s campaign to help provide hot food for the Calais camps then visit https://www.youcaring.com/the-camps-residents-505141#.Vp92xcj36V4.email.