From Foreign to Familiar

It’s funny, the things that don’t apply here. “Stop and smell the roses,” for instance. A phrase meant to encourage people like me to take some time out of their busy schedules for simple pleasures, for appreciating what’s around them. This phrase doesn’t really make sense in the Jungle. Though there are many positives - beautiful community, inspiring resilience, amazing generosity and love - there are no flowers.

Step outside your tent, if you’ve got one, and try not to breathe too deeply. Don’t look, don’t look at anything too closely - not the puddle filled with diapers, teddies, tear gas canisters, and the slightly bloodied jacket of the man who got taken away by the police last night. Not the rats feasting on the only food you’ve got to feed your family with this week. Listen to the birds chirping, yes, but tune out the cough of your child and the sound of the local man, angrily calling you names through the fence - the fence that was put up to keep you separate, to keep you away. It will do you no good to notice when the freezing rain overflows the porter-toilet and a thick, tarry mixture comes seeping out and running in to the road and mixes with the mud, because you and your children have no choice but to walk through it, anyway. Try to ignore that mud as it oozes through the cracks in your shoes and up your socks until your whole foot feels as if it’s one with the earth, one with the puddles, one with the trash, one with the toilet.

No, though you have nothing but time, don’t waste any of it by taking in your surroundings. These things aren’t meant for you, aren’t meant for anyone. Remember that your worth is not defined by the squalor of the Jungle and you are more precious than anything this place is telling you. When you stop in the Jungle, don't breathe in the chemical toxins or piles of waste. Instead, close your eyes and please try to remember the beautiful smell of roses. Remember the company of your family, the warmth of a bed, the comfort of your own home, and the hope that one day soon these simple pleasures will be yours again.