Ethel Mulvany: The provider of hope.

This story takes place in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. I want to be fully transparent when I write about this story. Many do not know of Canada’s terrible history and the imprisonment of 90% of our Japanese Canadians by our own government. We often look at war and the treatment of innocent people in these prisons and internment camps and think shame on those countries. We were one of those countries. It is important to remember our history. The history that held thousands of our own people in prisons in deplorable conditions based solely on their race. We should never forget this.

Our story today is about Ethel Mulvany. She was born on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada. Ms. Mulvany was a teacher and eventually became a Director of Arts in Toronto. She travelled to Asia in the 30’s for work and eventually married there. They stayed in Singapore where Ms. Mulvany volunteered providing medical care with the Red Cross.

Ms. Mulvany was imprisoned during WWII in Japan after they invaded in 1941. She quickly started to become the hope other women and children needed to survive. She helped the women make quilts that were provided to the hospitals and men’s section of the camps. Inside the quilts lived secret messages of hope and survival that she helped these women write and hide in the sections of the quilts. These were then passed along to the loved ones in nearby camps which extended that hope outside her circle.

Ms. Mulvany set-up imaginary dinners each night where the women would pretend to dress up, set-up makeshift dinning tables, and share recipes. They would share the images of what they were wearing, how the tables were adorned, and most importantly what they were eating. They would describe these meals, the preparation, and the ingredients in great detail. This may not sound like hope, but it provided something very important- it stimulated the women’s saliva glands. It is said this cut the hunger pains and helped keep these women alive. Their own saliva once swallowed provided some relief.

At one point near the end of the war, Ms. Mulvany was locked in solitary confinement for six months after being tortured. Her confinement ended with the war when she was finally released and came home to Canada.

Once home, she diligently detailed over 800 recipes she remembered from her prison mates’ imaginary meals. Some she was able to remember, but others she discreetly noted while in prison on anything she could find to write on. Eventually she wrote a cookbook and sold the books to raise money for prisoners of war-survivors who were still homeless and hungry. She raised a total of $18,000 around 1944 and sold over 20,000 books. A copy of her cookbook lives in the Canadian War Museum 

"From one Canadian who survived the horrors of war and prison camp, may I just say, enjoy your homes. Enjoy your food. There is nothing that can take their place." – Ethan Mulvany