Deborah
Ellis
I have always
felt a special connection to Canadian author Deborah Ellis. In grade five my
art teacher, whose name also happened to be Deborah Ellis, read us passages
from one of her novels. Ms. Ellis and I also share the same birthday. What is
truly remarkable about Deborah Ellis, however, is her phenomenal ability to
draw us closer to people across the globe through her adventurous yet compassionate
work.
Ellis’s
non-fiction book Kids of Kabul deals
with the complex subject of Afghanistan. A concise book, scarcely over one
hundred pages long, it is an enlightening and informative read for both children
and adults. Deborah Ellis recounts the lives of twenty-seven children that she
met on a recent visit to Kabul. The children vary from runaway child brides to
children living in prison to young scholars sent abroad. The stories are
skilfully selected to show both the strength and vulnerability of these
resilient children. Ellis’s writing style is both objective and compassionate,
portraying the children’s struggles and successes without glossing over the
truth with unrealistic optimism.
The book is
written with a diverse demographic in mind. Helpful and relevant information is
provided for both adults and children. Prefacing each tale is relevant
historical and situational information to set the story in its context. At the
end of the book there is also a brief history of Afghanistan, a list of
relevant organizations, websites, and books for further reference and research,
and a glossary defining both advanced words for school-age children and foreign
words used throughout the book.
It is clear
from Ellis’s writing that each child has his or her own story, and that there
is no one solution to the problems of the children living in Kabul. The
children’s emotions regarding their situations range from anger and frustration
to determination and hope. Fortunately, positive changes are happening both
within and outside Afghanistan, such as the construction of a Women’s Garden, a
Youth Exchange and Study Program, and homes and schools for children. However,
much still needs to be done in order to offer these children more safety and
opportunity.
Although I have
a unique personal connection with Ms. Ellis, her writing also brings me closer to
the world at large. Through reading this intimate and striking collection of stories,
one comes to feel that these children are not so different from those closer to
home. They remind us of ourselves as children and of our own siblings, cousins,
nephews, nieces, children, and grandchildren. It can be easy to dismiss the
issues of those far across the globe as irrelevant to our own lives. However,
after reading Kids of Kabul, one
realizes that we are all human in the very same way and that we all deserve the
same opportunities for a positive future. All royalties from the sales of Kids of Kabul will go to the
organization Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, making even the act of
purchasing and reading this book a positive step toward the future of
Afghanistan.
