Aisling Bea has taken time out of her busy schedule of acting and comedy gigs to provide help and humorous relief to the refugees in the Calais migrant camp.
She took to Instagram to express how her volunteering in the French camp and subsequent fundraising through the #ComicsForCalais gigs moved her. The gigs were put together by the Guilty Feminist Podcast and Help Refugees.
The Great British Bakeoff contestant said, “A giant thank you to @theguiltyfeminist who organised #ComicsForCalais with @helprefugeesuk – we worked with the volunteers then did a gig for them that night which live streamed to a sold out, fundraising sister gig at The Union Chapel where @jessicafostekew was holding down the fort.”
She captioned her post with the following, “It’s so easy to be cynical & lose hope that there’s anything we can do, but sometimes the act of trying & people knowing that you’re seen & that you matter is worth a million bucks. This will hopefully be the first of many trips & I would thoroughly recommend getting in touch about volunteering.”
“It may not be easy but it fills your heart all the same. Some volunteers work at the Women’s centre @refugee_womens_centre & just play with the kids. You can also buy everything from jumpers to tents to a torch at the #ChooseLove online shop. ????”
The Irish actress who has been spending a lot of time in LA lately also shared a series of photos and videos from her volunteering experience.
As well as providing some comedy for the inhabitants of the camp she also helped out in their kitchens.
The Kildare cailÃn said, “(This is Steve, an angel, one of the founders of the kitchen, watch his video) Despite obvious moments of sadness hearing some of the people’s stories, we had such an amazing experience in Calais with @helprefugeesuk @refugeecommunitykitchen & volunteers this week.”
“Most of what they do is about showing humanity & love during quite a cruel & scary time & giving dignity & some hope to people in quite terrible times in their lives. In the kitchen Steve and the volunteers make & dole out 1400 hot, fresh healthy meals every day to families, kids & many young teens on their own.”
She also revealed some of the scary day-to-day realities for the people living in the camp, “We helped with the kitchen & distribution & everyone both the volunteers & refugees were so kind and sweet and polite despite the police having come and destroyed their tents and smashing some of their phones the night before.”
“They need people to volunteer & money to help run it. I personally feel there is only something to gain from looking outside our own troubles & experience bubble & it was a very inspiring trip.”
Aisling’s star power is soaring after recent appearances on Task Master, The Great British Bakeoff and some exciting upcoming projects she can’t tell us about until a little bit later in the year.
