Camilla, with her partner Jon James, survived a 14 month incarceration in Chechnya and this week she told her harrowing account of their experience to first year pupils at Eyemouth High and primary seven pupils at Chirnside Primary.
Some of the worst details of their mental and physical torture had to be left out for the younger children but Camilla's story kept the pupils riveted.
Afterwards she said she was impressed by the standard of questions posed by pupils at both schools and also by the work of the Chirnside children at workshops held after her talk.
The workshops on conflict and forgiveness fitted in with the school's pioneering work on mediation and conflict resolution which has gained Chirnside Primary a national award.
"It is obvious that mediation has helped them and given them ideas. I was impressed with what they came up with," said Camilla.
Now living near Plymouth, she is studying for an MA in drama therapy and uses her spare time to give talks on the months she spent as a hostage and her journey afterwards to healing and forgiveness.
Camilla and Jon were kidnapped by Chechnyan rebels in 1997 after they went to the war-torn country to set up a rehabilitation centre for traumatised children. Their ordeal began just two months after their arrival in the country when masked Kalashnikov carrying thugs burst into their house in Grozny and yelled at Jon to open the safe. All that fell out were little coloured balls for the kids to play with.
Frustrated and dangerously angry, the four men handcuffed and blindfolded Camilla and James, threw them into a car and drove them to their hideout where they were pushed through a trapdoor into a cellar furnished with only a candle stub and a single campbed with a blanket stinking of urine.
They stayed there for a month until they were moved to another cellar.
That was when the rapes began. Jon was rendered helpless and forced to listen as he was tied to a pipe in an adjoining room for the duration of the repeated violations.
The horrific abuse, which included Jon being beaten, took its toll and demanded every ounce of their considerable spiritual strength.
The mental torture was intense too and Christmas was particularly bad as there was frequent talk of release with equally frequent letdowns.
They were not set free until the following September although conditions improved in the New Year - seven months after they were captured.
"I don't talk about the rape to primary children as some of our story is beyond their understanding," she said. "I ask them what we needed to survive - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. They come out with things like belief, trust, hope and love.
"I also ask them to make images of what conflict means to them and what forgiveness means to them."
For Camilla, forgiveness and healing has taken nearly 10 years during which she has undergone skin cancer and cancer of the stomach.
"Recovering from that kind of trauma takes years and I think the cancer was perhaps a result of holding on for survival," she said.
Now 49, she believes her healing has been helped not only by the drama course and involvement in the Forgiveness Project (more information on www.forgivenessproject.com) but also by writing a book with Jon about their experience.
The book, The Sky is Always There, is due out next spring to coincide with the tenth anniversary of their release.
"I now feel that I have the same energy I had before I went into captivity," revealed Camilla. "I feel more like the person I was and have let go of my fear and lack of trust in men but it has been a long, long process."