“Rise Up” and raise awareness on violence against women
- Tiffany Head | June 04, 2015
Conrad Burns started the movement, Rise Up, 3 years ago. He decided he would walk 400 kilometres from Prince Albert to Regina to raise awareness about violence against women. He found that statistically 1 out of 4 women were abused and he wanted to make a change.
Burns and his fellow walkers made it to Regina and along the way they have been shown immense support and have had an overwhelming response from the media.
“We had twenty-three different walkers at any given time during the walk this year. We had people on horseback joining us, we had bikers come join us, we’ve had so much media attention it’s almost overwhelming to see the positive effect that we’ve had,” Said Burns.
Sherri Neapetung joined the walk because of her own experience with violence and how rough that life can be. She said the walk was a healing experience for her and they have had much encouraging feedback from people along the way.
“We had people honking their cars at us, waving at us, we had people at the FSIN assembly telling us we did a good job and shook our hands,” Said Neapetung.
Debbie Chaboyer joined because of her own experience with abuse and wanted the cycle to stop.
“I wanted to change that cycle for my grandkids. I’ve come on this walk to better myself to heal because I was also in an abusive relationship. I want things to change in my life and I chose to be here to be able to change it and to be able to help people,” said Chaboyer.
Chaboyer also thought it was going to be easy but found out the journey was grueling. She had suffered a heatstroke along the way.
“I felt like giving up because it’s so much work. I didn’t realize going into it. It was a lot of healing for me, I went through the emotional part of it, the physical, I felt everything of this walk,” said Chaboyer.
They will end the walk from Creeland gas station to the Legislative building before it headed back home to Prince Albert.
Burns believes that if the violence can end in the next few generations of women then the movement, Rise Up, has made a difference.
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