News (Media Awareness Project) - CN AB: Former Addict, Hooker Shares Sad History With |
| Title: | CN AB: Former Addict, Hooker Shares Sad History With |
| Published On: | 2003-10-19 |
| Source: | Edmonton Journal (CN AB) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-08-24 01:32:54 |
FORMER ADDICT, HOOKER SHARES SAD HISTORY WITH ABORIGINAL YOUTH
EDMONTON - Brenda Curry was nine when she smoked her first cigarette.
She started doing drugs at 11 and was drinking a year later. By 14, she was
living on the streets, having sex with men in exchange for a place to sleep
and something to eat.
"You might think it can't happen to you. I used to think that,too," Curry,
now 40, told a group of young aboriginal girls sitting in a small classroom
at Grant MacEwan College on Saturday afternoon.
Some sat hunched forward, with gaping mouths and big eyes. One girl wiped
away tears.
They are among 1,500 aboriginal youth from across the country attending the
11th-annual Dreamcatcher youth conference here this weekend. The
conference, which wraps up today, offers seminars on everything from the
history of the teepee and West Coast carvings to harsh life lessons about
gangs, gambling and suicide.
"It's realistic stuff," said 17-year-old Ruby
Pahtayken from Onion Lake First Nation, located about 50 kilometres north
of Lloydminster.
Curry, an Edmonton outreach worker, talked openly with the group of girls
about her tragic childhood in Dartmouth, N.S.
How her brother often pushed her down the stairs and locked her in a
garbage bin. How she watched her father try to kill her mother. How her
stepfather molested her as a child.
When she was 16, she left home for good, but was picked up hitchhiking
along the highway by an escaped convict. He led her further into the world
of drugs and prostitution.
She moved to Alberta 12 years ago to make a fresh start and now holds
workshops for teens about the traps of street life.
She dedicates each session to the memory of a friend and fellow prostitute
who was murdered in Dartmouth in 1995. She urged the group of girls to make
smart choices in their lives and watch out for their friends.
"What if your friend doesn't want to listen to you?" asked Gina Lamaigre,
13, from the Metis community of Janvier near Fort McMurray.
"Go to the police," said Curry. "Even though it's not cool -- it might save
her life."
EDMONTON - Brenda Curry was nine when she smoked her first cigarette.
She started doing drugs at 11 and was drinking a year later. By 14, she was
living on the streets, having sex with men in exchange for a place to sleep
and something to eat.
"You might think it can't happen to you. I used to think that,too," Curry,
now 40, told a group of young aboriginal girls sitting in a small classroom
at Grant MacEwan College on Saturday afternoon.
Some sat hunched forward, with gaping mouths and big eyes. One girl wiped
away tears.
They are among 1,500 aboriginal youth from across the country attending the
11th-annual Dreamcatcher youth conference here this weekend. The
conference, which wraps up today, offers seminars on everything from the
history of the teepee and West Coast carvings to harsh life lessons about
gangs, gambling and suicide.
"It's realistic stuff," said 17-year-old Ruby
Pahtayken from Onion Lake First Nation, located about 50 kilometres north
of Lloydminster.
Curry, an Edmonton outreach worker, talked openly with the group of girls
about her tragic childhood in Dartmouth, N.S.
How her brother often pushed her down the stairs and locked her in a
garbage bin. How she watched her father try to kill her mother. How her
stepfather molested her as a child.
When she was 16, she left home for good, but was picked up hitchhiking
along the highway by an escaped convict. He led her further into the world
of drugs and prostitution.
She moved to Alberta 12 years ago to make a fresh start and now holds
workshops for teens about the traps of street life.
She dedicates each session to the memory of a friend and fellow prostitute
who was murdered in Dartmouth in 1995. She urged the group of girls to make
smart choices in their lives and watch out for their friends.
"What if your friend doesn't want to listen to you?" asked Gina Lamaigre,
13, from the Metis community of Janvier near Fort McMurray.
"Go to the police," said Curry. "Even though it's not cool -- it might save
her life."
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