A local fundraiser is hoping to raise £8,500 to send 1,000 solar lights to refugees in Calais.
Charlotte Wales, 35, of Ridge Road, Mitcham, started her campaign after hearing about a man in a refugee camp who had fallen asleep with a candle and set fire to his tent.
She has now raised more than £1,600 to send specifically designed LuminAID solar lights to the infamous Jungle refugee camp in Calais, which is currently home to 6,000 people, in the hope of making the lives of the refugees safer.
LuminAID design portable and weather resistant solar lights which can provide up to 16 hours of consistent LED light and can be charged. The money raised so far can buy 200 individual solar lights for the refugees.
Ms Wales said: "The whole camp is so flammable. The colder it gets and the darker it gets the more people are using candles and the greater the risk.
The LuminAID solar light
"I find the whole thing terrifying. In a fire they would lose everything, and they have already lost so much.
"I couldn’t go to the camps myself, but I wanted to help and do something that would make a difference."
Ms Wales is working alongside the French charity L’Auberge des Migrants to ensure that the lights reach those who need them most. The charity will take delivery of the lights, and their trained volunteers will manage distribution to ensure that it’s conducted in a safe and fair manner.
On the funding page for the project, it says: "Each lantern we can send is one more tent that will not burn down, one more person who will feel safer at night, one more child who won’t be afraid of the dark."
Ms Wales is in the process of organising other fundraising activities, and is keen to encourage the public to get behind the campaign, including those who have already helped refugees in other ways.
To donate to the project, visit the fundraising page at: http://gogetfunding.com/lighting-the-way/
For more information, or to volunteer to help, visit https://www.facebook.com/lightingthewaylanterns/ or follow Lighting The Way on Twitter.
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