PEOPLE are being asked to donate their old mobile phones to help migrants in Calais stay connected with their families abroad.

Side by Side Refugees have launched an appeal

Chair of the charity Katrina Keiffer-Wells said phone are vital for all migrants, especially for the 1,000 unaccompanied children living in the camp.

She said: “Mobile phones are absolutely essential for the refugees because they provide information and allow them to have contact with their families.

“They also allow the volunteers who have built relationships with the unaccompanied children to keep in touch with them and be contacted if they need help.

“I was in Calais two weeks ago and it is getting worse.

“There are children sleeping in tents with people they don’t know.

“When the camp closes there is a risk that these children will just disappear.

“As a parent, the one think I would like my child to have if they left home is a phone so they can contact me if they are in trouble.”

Earlier this week the French President Francois Hollande said the camp would be closed before the end of the year.

According to the charity Help Refugees, there are over 10,000 migrants living in the Jungle camp in Calais, including 1,022 unaccompanied children.

The camp is made up of 43 per cent Sudanese refugees, 33 percent of Afghanis and only 1 per cent of those in the camp come from Syria and Iraq.

Annie Gavrilescu, Help Refugees’ legal and field manager, said: “With an impending eviction, there is currently no plan in place for safe accommodation for the children in the camp.

“On average 11 unaccompanied minors arrive in the Calais camp every single day. In the past month there has been a 51% increase in unaccompanied minors, the youngest is still 8 years old.”

To donate to the appeal, drop your old mobile phones in to Debbie Bliss Home in Orford Road, Walthamstow, or donate to the campaign at https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/shero