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Mechanic driven out by call to war

A GROUP of volunteers from Syria Solidarity Movement came to The Jungle refugee camp in Calais yesterday loaded with sweets and messages of support for the 300 Syrians living there.

Ten minutes in from the entrance of the camp, next to a small tent with clothes hanging out to dry, two young men from Syria stand smoking.

Ahmed is a young mechanical engineer from Damascus who spoke to the Star in English about traveling to France and being stranded in the fishing town, awaiting asylum in Britain.

He said: “I came from Syria because I had to go to the army, I didn’t accept that.”

It took him three months to reach the camp after crossing Turkey, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary until he took a train to Munich, Germany.

Ahmed originally decided to stay in Germany, but “had to study German for one year and it was very difficult.”

He added: “That’s why I decided to come to England.

“This trip has cost me €4,000 — that’s all my money and my life. That’s finished now, I’m finished.

“I tried again to go there [Britain] but it’s very difficult.”

Ahmed is on his own: “I came alone, all my trip has been alone, and if I die here it’ll be alone.

“If I can’t go there [Britain] I’ll go back, maybe to Paris or Germany. I will wait maybe two months, three months, and then I will go back.

“The Syrian people here don’t want any help from anyone, from any government, just give us a place and work. Anything else we don’t want.”

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