Jasmin O'Hara (born 10 April 1990) is a British
woman human rights defender working in the field of international refugee support, and founder of Asylum Speakers.
Early life
O'Hara was born in
Bromley
Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023.
Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...
in southeast London. She studied fashion,
and initially worked for ethical clothing companies.
Activism
In August 2015 Jaz O'Hara was one of a group of friends that visited the so-called
Jungle
jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century.
Etymology
The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...
refugee camp in
Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, intending to make a documentary;
shocked by what she found, she wrote a Facebook post that gathered over 65,000 shares overnight, leading to a fund-raising campaign.
What started as a crowd-sourcing for a one-off trip to take some supplies to the Calais camp accumulated a huge volume of donations of physical goods (stored in multiple London warehouses, then taken to Calais in 40 vehicles), and raised £150,000 in a matter of weeks under the banner of CalAid.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...
being installed in refugee camps in France and Greece, supported a search-and-rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
, and provided food, clothing, shelter and other support to people on the move elsewhere in Europe and in the Middle East, including an arts project in Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
.
References
External links
Worldwide Tribe website
{{DEFAULTSORT:OHara, Jaz
1990 births
People from Bromley
British women human rights activists
British human rights activists
Living people