Deborah Ellis speaks for the children
Deborah Ellis, children’s author and social activist, will speak at the Faculty on Tuesday, February 23 at 4:30 in the auditorium. Deborah Ellis' title "The Voices of Children," speaks to the work she has done in giving voice to children throughout the world whose stories are rarely told. She has written about children living in the toughest neighbourhoods of Toronto, in the middle of war in Afghanistan, in refugee camps in Pakistan, in Palestine and Israel struggling with the ongoing conflict and hate, in Malawi and Tanzania as orphans from AIDS, as the children of military families fighting in Iraq and children of Bolivia surviving on the streets.
Deborah says of the characters she creates, "Courage interests me - when we have it, when we don't, and how we make the decision to be brave or cowardly. We have created a world where most children live in some form of war, and I write about them to try to do honour to their strength and courage. I have learned that there is no such thing as 'other people's children.' The world's children are a blessing to all of us. They are also our responsibility."
Deborah Ellis is also a philanthropist. She donates the proceeds of her writing to organizations that will serve the characters she writes about. According to Quill and Quire, she has donated close to $450,000 to charities and relief organizations from the proceeds of her writing.
