Kakuma Girls:
Sharing Stories of Hardship & Hope
From Kakuma Refugee Camp
by Clare Morneau
Clare Morneau, daughter of Canada’s finance minister, Bill Morneau, is only 17, but she has created an inspiring and beautiful book for teenage girls that vividly portrays both the hardships and the delightful spirit of similarly aged girls living in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.
These courageous girls describe how, as young children, they escaped from violence in neighbouring countries, often without their parents to protect them. They ended up at a gritty camp in northwestern Kenya, where an elementary school set up by Angelina Jolie was the only school for girls available. Then the Morneau family insurance company established a high school to give the most ambitious girls a chance at further education.
This inspiring book includes pictures by a prominent Ugandan photographer and interviews with the Kakuma girls. In spite of their dreary camp life, the girls are brave and hopeful for their futures. They also exchange letters with some of the girls at Clare’s high school in Toronto, who live in dramatically different circumstances. These handwritten letters draw a sharp contrast between the lives of each set of teenagers, but also reveal that girls will be girls, wherever they live.
This book will appeal to Canadian teens who want to know what it’s like to live in a place where peace and freedom are a dream, not an assumption. At a time when so many people in the U.S. and the U.K. are turning their backs on immigrants in trouble, this book will inspire and educate young people in Canada to think about the world in a big and generous way.
Proceeds from the book will go to the education of the girls at the Kakuma Refugee Camp.
book specs
7” x 9”
184 pgs.
price
$19.95 (paperback)
ISBNs
978-1-988025-14-8 (paperback)
release date
oct. 17, 2016
media contact
Praise
Kakuma Girls has been chosen as a Heather’s Pick.
Kakuma Girls won the 2017 Silver IBPA (International Book Publishers’ Association) Award for Teen Non Fiction
Media Roundup
Breakfast Television – Toronto
Video – How a pen-pal project turned into a life changing campaign
CTV – Your Morning
Here’s how one remarkable 17-year-old is helping young female refugees
Faze Magazine
Martin Sales Agency
Kakuma Girls makes it to Book of the Week on Martin Sales Agency Blog
She Does The City.com
Local Teen Philanthropist Shares the Best Way to Give Back This Season
The Globe and Mail
Clare Morneau on connecting with students in a Kenyan refugee camp