Trillium Book Awards Author Reading 2015

Camp Okutta

Submitted by dellis on March 25, 2008 - 2:28pm
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My neighbours are looking at summer camps for their kids. I saw a brochure in Port Dover for Camp Okutta and picked it up to take to them.

Billed as an adventure camp for kids 8-12, Camp Okutta's marketting tag is: 'What are your kids doing this summer? If they like video games, they'll love real weapons.'
Inside the brochure are cheerful drawings of pine trees and cabins, and AK-47s. And grenades. And land mines. The registration process is easy: 'We will collect your children when it suits us best. Openings come up when kids are injured or killed. We usually pick up new children on the way home from school so parents don't intervene and cause unnecessary bloodshed.'
Get it yet? It draws you in, then smacks you in the face, wondering what twisted version of reality this is.
It is, in fact, a brochure for War Child Canada. The back panel states: 'Camp Okutta does not exist. But camps like it exist all over the world. Every day children are trained for war, fight in war, and die in war. There are an estimated 250,000 children being used as soldiers right now. We would never stand for it here. So why are we letting it happen there?'
Hats off to whoever created such a brilliant brochure. I've got a bunch of school talks coming up - I'll contact War Child to get these brochures to hand out.
More information on War Child can be found at www.warchild.ca

The views expressed in the Writer-in-Residence blogs are those held by the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Open Book: Toronto.

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Date
Mon March 17, 2008

shelter nights

View more items filed under “Deborah Ellis” in our Open Book Archives.
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Submitted by dellis on March 17, 2008 - 9:00am

shelter nights

Did a couple more night shifts at the shelter over the weekend. A local Lions Club had done a food drive for us, and the entranceway was piled high with pasta, cannned goods, cookies, all sorts of food. The shelves are bursting! Some of the food will be used right in the shelter, and some will be made into food-boxes to give to women as they are leaving to start their lives again in their own place. Every item means that hunger is staved off for them and their kids, for at least a little while. It's great being part of a small town - the town really gets behind the shelter and other local initiatives like the food bank and the free Christmas dinners - my Dad and I served at one last Christmas, and there were tons of volunteers for cooking and serving and clean-up.

Deborah Ellis

Deborah Ellis is the acclaimed author of over 18 books and the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the Vicky Metcalfe Award for a body of work, the Governor General’s Award, the Africana Book Award, the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Honour, and the Red Cedar Award. She has traveled the world to meet with and hear the stories of children marginalized by war, illness, and poverty, and has recorded their stories for others to read and learn from.

Go to Deborah Ellis’s Author Page