Date: April 7 – 18, 2025
Cost: $2750, plus cost of airfare to and from Paris, France
Registration deadline: January 15, 2025
Calais, France, is a migration hotspot that is relatively unknown to people in the United States. The situation in Calais bears striking resemblance to the dynamics at play at the United States-Mexico border. Thousands of people migrate to Calais in hopes of crossing the English Channel and entering the United Kingdom to find a better life.
During this pilgrimage, you will interact with various organizations that are doing justice and relief work among the migrant population in Calais:
- Project Play offers play therapy for children in refugee camps.
- Refugee Women’s Center cares for women and children in refugee camps.
- Maria Skobtsova House provides meals, prayers and a space for women and children to live.
You will experience crossing the English Channel, via ferry, and travel to London, England. There, you will meet with Peaceful Borders and learn about their advocacy work — from their beginnings in Calais to their present-day work in the United Kingdom.
You will also have an opportunity to meet with women who have completed their journeys to England and hear about their journeys and new lives in a new country. You will share laughter and tears with women who have experienced unimaginable trauma but who have not lost their humanity and joy.
More than anything else, you can expect to be changed. You cannot come and hear these stories of people’s trauma without being deeply affected. Bring an open heart, ready to be touched, and possibly even broken, by the strength and resilience of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
This pilgrimage can accommodate up to 14 people. Those who took part in Chapter 1 of the Christ at the Borders Pilgrimage in South Texas will receive priority registration.
The cost includes all transportation upon arrival in Paris, France, and throughout the pilgrimage, as well as lodging and meals. Participants will be responsible for their own travel arrangements and costs incurred during travel to and from Paris.
Sample itinerary—Christ at the Borders Pilgrimage, Chapter 2
Day 1
Arrive in Paris
Day 2
Rest day/sightseeing in Paris
Day 3
Drive to Calais
Day 4
Lunch and learning at Maria Skobtsova House
Tour Calais
Day 5
Visit those working to fulfill the urgent needs of the migrant population, including a day center that provides various resources for those seeking asylum, lawyers who offer free legal services, and others.
Day 6
Tour The Warehouse where many groups that support the migrant community are headquartered. Volunteer opportunities may happen here.
Visit the Refugee Women’s Centre. They distribute necessities to women and children at the camps and often refer guests to the Maris Skobtsova House.
Day 7
Travel to London
Reflection time
Day 8
Meet with people in London who are working with refugees as they come to England.
Round table discussion with women who have crossed the English Channel looking for asylum.
Day 9
Day in London
Day 10
Travel to Paris
Day 11
Reflection
Sightseeing in Paris
Day 12
Travel home
“Pilgrims set out not so much to assist strangers but to eat with them. They journey in the wisdom about transformation held in the Rwandan proverb ‘if you cannot hear the mouth eating, you cannot hear the mouth crying.’”
— Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice in “Practice of Pilgrimage” from Reconciling All Things
Related
An architecture of care in Calais
Immigraton and the Bible, Missio Dei
Journeys of hope “all through the night”
Say, “Bonjour!” to Joseph and Rachel
For more information regarding Just Peace Pilgrimages, please fill out the contact form below, including any comments.