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December 4, 2017 - Undisclosed location, North of France. Outdoor kitchen. Local volunteers deliver jerry cans of potable water for cooking, usually once a week. Bottled drinking donated by local supermarkets is also delivered when available.
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January 7, 2018 - Grande-Synthe, France. This lake is the only access to water available to the approximately 150 refugees living in the forest. The only safe Water Point was shut off in mid-December by Damien Carême, mayor of Grande-Synthe, the day after he opened an emergency shelter in a local gymnasium. The shelter doesn’t have enough space to accommodate all the refugees.
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August 11, 2017 - Calais, France. The forest pictured is a location where refugees sleep, cook and defecate. At present there is no settlement as French Authorities have been destroying and tear gassing migrants, migrant's tents and personal belongings (including water bottles) with the aim to prevent the creation of another camp.
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August 25, 2017 - Calais, France. The owner of this bathroom has been hosting migrants for 5 years. Her mother had first started inviting homeless refugees that lived in a camp next to their house. She moved into her own apartment and continued inviting them over. “We are not supposed to be hosting homeless migrants, it is the government’s job to do that. Yet it does nothing, so we do the government’s work”.
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August 28, 2017 - Calais, France. Makeshift laundry. The government has not provided an adequate area where exiled people can properly wash and dry their clothes. Washing of clothes and sleeping bags with clean, hot water is essential for the prevention and cure of skin diseases such as scabies.
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October 4, 2017 - Calais, France. This fire hydrant serves as the sole permanent Water Point for refugees in the area. The morning the photo was taken, the French National Police (CRS), had sprayed tear gas on the fire hydrant in order to contaminate it.
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August 31, 2017 - Calais, France. Local NGOs install six makeshift showers on a water truck. The mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchard had chosen to pay a fine rather than provide refugees with access to safe water and sanitation. The fine was imposed after the court ruling by the highest administrative court in France that demanded the city of Calais provide certain services to refugees, including access to safe water and sanitation.
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August 13, 2017 - Calais, France. Regional Authorities provide clean Water Points in some of the areas where migrants live but only for eight hours a day. "During the night, when you are going to the toilet, there’s no water so you can't wash your hands. It’s a hygiene problem too", says an Ethiopian refugee.
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August 19, 2017 - Calais, France. Toothbrushes discarded after use. A water truck provided by local NGOs before the Regional Government installed mobile water points, delivered hygiene products including shampoo, conditioner, body cream, hair oil and toothbrushes.
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August 19, 2017 - Calais, France. Following a court order of June 26, 2017 obliging the mayor of Calais to provide access to water and other services to exiled people, ten mobile toilets and 20 mobile water points were installed by the regional authorities on August 18, 2017 in one of the larger distribution points. There are a total of permanent 20 mobile toilets for around 1000 people, provided in proximity of two areas where exiled people regroup.
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October 17, 2017 - Calais, France. The homeowners have been inviting homeless migrants to shower since 2013. At some point the water company called to make sure there was not a leak in their house, as their water consumption had dramatically increased due to the high number of guests coming to shower.
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August 11, 2017 - Calais, France. The foam seen on the ground is left after a migrant washed his/her hair outside. Migrants in the north of France do not have permanent access to safe water and sanitation. By not providing constant access, the government is using access to safe water as a tool to discourage people hoping to reach the UK.
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December 8, 2017 - Multipurpose Hall, undisclosed location, north of France. For the past 10 years the mayor of this town in the north of France has opened the shower rooms to exiled people once a week. Apart from some locals occasionally hosting migrants, this is the only access to showers migrants living in this area have.
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August 31, 2017 - Calais, France. The hose pictured here was the only access to safe water refugees had for most of 2017. The men, mostly Afghans, do not live near any of the water points that have been made accessible by the government-led ngo.
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August 23, 2017 - Calais, France. The owners of this home have been hosting refugees for more than 4 years. They started to host refugees as a political action to fight against the rise of the extreme right in Calais.
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December 7, 2017 - Calais, France. Hygiene products, along with survival blankets, are distributed to migrants due to the freezing temperatures during winter.
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October 4, 2017 - Calais, France. The pot (pictured) contains rice being cooked by Afghan refugees. Cooking has become more complicated for migrants due to the lack of access to water and the continuous tear gassing and destruction of personal belongings by the French National Police (CRS).
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January 29, 2018 - Grande-Synthe, France. A make-shift toilet built by the refugee men living near-by. There are about 50-150 people living in the forest in Grande-Synthe during winter with no access to safe water or sanitation.
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November 1, 2017 - Calais, France. The owner of this bathroom has been hosting refugees for 6 years. Like many other homeowners providing showers, she pays the water bill out of her own pocket.
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September 27, 2017. Calais, France. This canal, its shoreline littered with discarded belongings and hygiene products, is representative of the limited access to water faced by migrants living in Calais. Due to the continued lack of access to showers, toilets and safe potable water, these polluted Water Points often serve as the refugees’ only water source.
