Re-Entry: 1 Year Later (Almost!)

A whole YEAR… Time goes by so quickly!

I can remember coming home at the end of November 2011 like it was yesterday. I remember my final flight to New York with my squad. Missing the big squad goodbye as I waited in a line to be allowed to enter America for a night before going home to Canada. I remember sleeping on the floor in the airport with the rest of the U squad who had flight to catch that night or early the next morning. I remember sitting at a table by myself in the New York airport attempting to eat but feeling seriously sick as it finally sunk in that I was parting way with my team and my squad.

Nothing would ever be the same again. And when everyone had finally left I sat on my own in that hard plastic chair and I cried. I just cried… By the time my plane landed in Calgary I thought I was out of tears I was so tired. Then I saw these tiny moccasins for a baby and I thought about the married couple on my team and I wanted to cry all over again.  

Going home was bitter sweet. I was happy to see everyone but also very aware that I had just said goodbye to a group of people who meant the world to me. I slept in a room that was all my own, in a bed and not on the floor. I used a real big soft towel after having a long shower in unlimited hot water. I ate soup that did not have pickles, cabbage, chicken feet or other bones in it. I watched television with my family. I talked non-stop. I dug out clothing that I had not seen in over a year to wear and nothing fit. I went through the week following in a kind of daze not really knowing what to think, what to do or what direction I was headed in.

I had some really hard days and some really good days. And, bit by bit, I guess things started to fall into place for me. Sort of… 

I remember the first time that I called Ashley Musick the alumni co-ordinator and cried through the phone about all of my fears, how much I missed the race, the crazy things that I was thinking and doing and all of the stuff that I couldn’t get used to. I pictured my tears running through the telephone and onto her shoulder. She encouraged me and she gave me homework. Homework that I didn’t do but I did think about it a lot and in a small way it gave me focus.

She told me to think about what I loved doing on the race and then look at my community. What could I begin to do right now that would give me the opportunity to continue doing the things that I was doing on the race? Was there a youth center? A homeless shelter? A program for children at my church? 

She encouraged me to look around the place that I was in that moment and actively begin to dream and look for opportunities.  

I kind of followed her instructions. Kind of… I admit I was half hearted about it at first.
But I did start to dream and I started to pray and I started to LOOK. 

I began doing research on human trafficking because on the race that was where I felt God breaking my heart, challenging me and filling me with passion. I looked at organizations, I read through articles and books about it and I watched videos about it. The more I learned the more determined I became to be involved in the fight against human trafficking. One day I shared my interest with a gentleman from my church and he challenged me to research human trafficking in my own country. 

So I went home and I started to research human trafficking in Canada. What I found bothered me because, esssentially, there was NOTHING to find.     

Not that it doesn’t exist because it most certainly does. But there were no resources or readily available sources of information about human trafficking in Canada. I realized that to research human trafficking in Canada I would have to hunt it out and see it first hand. 

To make a long story short I started to look specifically at information about Vancouver’s East End because it is widely known to be an area of the city where homelessness, substance abuse and violent acts take place. I felt that if trafficking was to have a face in British Columbia it would probably show up there. I looked into working with an organization called Covenant House that works with street youth in the area and discovered that in order to be eligible for a job there I would need two years of school in the social service work field and at least two years of working experience in a residence or group home setting.