emma carswell
(English and History 1998) recalls how a final year project turned into her first book...
The Christmas break of my final year at the University of Dundee remains etched on my memory. Term had ended and I had made my way south to Liverpool Airport. I was to board one of the world's largest cargo planes headed to Armenia, the near-eastern country, primarily known for the devastating earthquake that hit its northern region in 1988. My history dissertation on the Armenian people was due in the following term, and I was hoping to do some final research before rattling off 10,000 words. 10,000 words! It seemed an enormous task at the time, but little did I realise that three years later I would be writing a book, inspired by this very trip.
Climbing up a precarious ladder I peered into the interior of the Antonov aircraft. It could have come straight from the 'Indiana Jones' set. I struggled to find a seat amongst the crates and equipment. With no windows, air conditioning or sound mufflers, it wasn't exactly British Airways, but then this was a trip with a mission. Below me, in the hold, were thousands of shoeboxes, wrapped in Christmas paper and filled with gifts. Carefully prepared by children from across the UK as part of the Operation Christmas Child project, these shoeboxes were to bring hope and happiness to the suffering children of Armenia.
Dave Cooke, the man behind what is now the largest children's charity project in the country, made quite an impression on me. He didn't have a great start in life, but has lived to make a difference in the lives of others. It was some years earlier, as images of the Romanian orphans, victims of Ceausescu's regime, flashed across the television screens, that Dave felt compelled to help in a practical way. Calling a few friends in his home town
of Wrexham in North Wales, he suggested taking a lorry filled with aid to Romania. The local media were contacted, and
within days the idea had snowballed. Aid and money poured in, and eventually seven truck loads set off for Romania. An ingenious idea of filling shoeboxes with presents went down a treat with the children and captured the hearts of adults too. Now thousands of shoeboxes are sent each year around the world.
The full story of Dave Cooke & Operation Christmas Child is told
in words and pictures in "Love in a Box" by Emma Carswell.
Published by Paternoster Lifestyle, ISBN 1-85078-366-7, £9.99.
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