This is Baktash, 20 years old, from Afghanistan.
Winter 2010. I was staying at Atelier Holsboer / Cité Internationales in Paris. At that time many young Afghans stayed temporarily in the parks. From there they would try to travel onwards to different destinations in Europe. Many of them where heading for the UK. I traveled to Calais several times to take a look at the situation, at the facts.
In the dunes near the port, I spoke with a small groups of people. Among them was the friendly Baktash. He used to live with his mother in Iran as a refugee but in the end he was forced to leave that place as well.
Despite the piles of trash surrounding the camp, and the harsh overall living conditions, the interior of his makeshift tent was surprisingly neat. His aim, like that of many others in Calais at the time, was to reach the other side of the Channel.