Volunteer
Our Volunteers
Maria Skobtsova House relies on volunteers for the day to day running of the house. We are looking for people with mature and warm personalities, able to be flexible and able to adapt quickly to changing situations and contribute to and maintain a family atmosphere.
‘As a volunteer the house teaches me a lot about my position as a European, as a human and as a follower of the Prince of Peace. While Calais breathes deprivation and injustice, Maria Skobtsova House contributes to a dissent.’
Chana 20. The Netherlands.
‘I spent 3 months as a volunteer in MSH. During that time, my self-confidence grew. I learnt to embrace what I could do and forgive myself for what I could not do; to say yes and no and have my answer respected; to trust my instincts, respect my boundaries and go a little further each time. With the other volunteers, I learnt the value of acceptance, empathy, talking about all things, respecting each other’s times and needs, living Christ with others and in our own lives.’
Catarina (Portugal)
Volunteer Conditions
You need to be over 18.
We ask you to have health and repatriation insurance.
Accommodation and food are provided . You will be living in Maria Skobtsova House.
You will receive support from members and friends of the Association.
We would ask you to commit yourself to a minimum of a month as a volunteer. We suggest you visit us for a few days to get a feel of life in the house before making a commitment.
A Day in the Life of a Volunteer
‘One day in Maria Skobtsova House is like several days rolled into one. Unexpected things happen all the time. You think it’ll be a calm day and suddenly there’s a whole bunch of things to do. Sometimes there are just a few guests in the house and then we’re contacted by one of the Volunteer Associations working in the field who have found a family with children sleeping outside and ask us if we can welcome them. As soon as people come into the house they stop being refugees and become the people you live with, the people you eat with, the people with whom you wait your turn to have a shower. The house is always in constant movement reflecting Calais itself with a lot of people coming and going from all different places trying to reach the UK. In any one day, we meet so many different people, have so many different conversations, visit so many different places that it seems like several days have happened. We go to bed, tired as if 2 or 3 days had passed without resting, even though it is only a few hours since we woke up.’
Catarina (Portugal)
BEN AND JENNA, volunteers July-October 2021 from Portland, Oregon
We were here in Calais to welcome the “stranger”, but in reality we were the stranger too. We arrived knowing very little French, with very few contacts, no knowledge of the system, and little experience in this kind of home. This really caused us to feel the mutuality of the home in a concrete way, for we truly felt we were “all in this together.” Questions they had we couldn’t necessarily answer, problems in their lives we could not necessarily solve. But together, we could try to figure out the best solution, and slowly we learned more and more as our experience grew.
One of the most difficult things to describe to those who do not share community in the Maria Skobtsova House is the transformation that happens in only a few days. Those we welcome often arrive bound up tightly, like a ball of roots. But within only a few hours, they begin to soften. Soon they feel safe in the home, they sleep well and enjoy cooking a nice meal and begin forming relationships with others. They spread their roots wider and begin going past their own anxiety to care for and support others. By the third or fourth day, they are a completely new person - someone you laugh with, share difficult stories with: someone you feel you have known for weeks.
This is what is so beautiful about the spirit of this home: a space where people’s full humanity is welcomed, where they can catch a glimpse of the life they are working so hard to reclaim. And in allowing people to go beyond the label of “migrant” for a few days and the constant battle to meet their most basic needs, we open ourselves up, also, to the possibility of going beyond our own assumptions. We open ourselves up to being surprised.
During the past three months, we have had the honor of learning alongside so many friends and guests. We have been surprised by them, and we have also been surprised by ourselves. The spirit of welcome and trust is extended both ways. If we were to pass on anything we have learned to new volunteers, here is what we would say:
● Keep looking for ways to get beyond the labels of citizen/refugee and bring people together in the home. The networks of community around this home are also part of our mission of hospitality. We are all enriched by the gift of knowing each other.
● Stay in the present moment. You do not know who will knock on the door an hour from now or when the phone will ring. You do not know whether guests will leave for good tomorrow or stay another three weeks. Embrace the gift of this moment and hold the rest lightly. Receive all who walk through these doors as the face of Christ to you this day.
● Communion in prayer is the source of life in this home. Take advantage of the chance to pray in the chapel together - it is such a sacred space, absorbing the prayers of so many courageous and vibrant people.
● It may sometimes be tempting to stay distant from the pain of others in order to protect our own hearts. It is also easy to get “stuck” in the problems and pain, and forget how to choose joy. The great gift we can learn from our guests is how to embrace both the sorrow and the joy of life, and to let suffering be channeled into love.
We are so grateful for the warm welcome we received at Rue Anatole France. Now as we leave, the life of the home continues on, an ever-changing community that somehow retains the same beautiful soul. We continue to hold the MSH community in our prayers. God willing, we will return again to see a new era of the home someday.
If interested, please contact
Patricia McDwyer-Wendzinski