Coming Full Circle
Picture a small child in a dark room. The only light is from the missing handle in the bedroom door. She's terrified of the noise down the hallway, noise of a fight, glass shattering. Then, a shadow opens the door...
Now picture a mother of four, struggling to provide for her children; she always finds herself compromising whether to buy food, diapers or a bus pass to get to university.
Cecilia Baker and her family frequently spend an afternoon together working out and having fun at the YMCA-YWCA, which they access with support from United Way of Winnipeg.
"There was a lot of alcoholism, a lot of chaos, seeing domestic violence and going through abuses from people I trusted," she says. "In a small community like that, there's so much abuse that happens and nobody talks about it."
With no supports and no one to talk to about the things that were going on in her own life, Cecilia felt lost and alone. Her isolation continued when, at 15, she was placed with a host family in Winnipeg to complete high school. There were 12 others like her.
"I was the only one left by December that hadn't quit."Cecilia made it through to graduation, but not before becoming pregnant. "I was actually writing exams when I was pregnant with my son."
The new parents married and together had four children (a son, now 16, and daughters 13, 9 and 7). Sadly, the relationship echoed earlier experiences.
After 11 years of marriage, and a lifetime of failed trust, Cecilia reached out for help. "I started going to Eyaa-Keen."
A United Way agency partner, Eyaa-Keen offers treatment programs and services that focus on spiritual, mental, emotional and physical healing for Aboriginal adults who've experienced trauma or major loss.
Cecilia says the program helped her deal with the issues of her past that were causing stress and preventing her from living a healthy, strong life.
Empowered by a new sense of balance, Cecilia found the strength to persevere and overcome a number of obstacles. Despite the challenges of raising four kids on her own, she earned a degree in environmental studies from the University of Manitoba.
"I wanted to give my kids a better life," Cecilia says simply. "I wanted to give them everything and be a role model for them."
For the past five years, she's been working for Manitoba Hydro-most recently as a technical assistant with Water Resource and Engineering. But her healing journey came full circle when she became a Sponsored Executive as part of United Way's Leadership Development program during the 2009 fundraising campaign. While Manitoba Hydro continued to pay her salary, Cecilia spent 16 weeks inspiring fellow Winnipeggers to support the same kinds of programs and services that were so vital to helping turn her own life around.
"It was a wonderful experience," she says. "It was humbling to learn about the agencies and I felt really honoured to meet the volunteers."
She was surprised to learn just how much a role United Way had played in her quest to find harmony and healing. "My kids and I would get that membership at the Y (YMCA - YWCA) and it was subsidized so we didn't have to pay the full fee," she says.
Her children also attended cultural summer camps through Ma Mawi Wi Chi I tata Centre - another United Way agency partner that provides culturally relevant support and prevention programs and services for Aboriginal families. And Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad (Ndinawe) helped Cecilia's son, an amateur boxer with his sights set on national competition, meet provincial requirements. "Ndinawe has a doctor right on site and they filled out the whole medical form for free," Cecilia says. "If we didn't have that, my son probably wouldn't be boxing."
Today he's a winner both in the ring and in school where he achieves exceptional grades. At the same time, her oldest daughter is participating in a YMCA - YWCA leadership program, learning to become a role model for other youth in our community.
Cecilia also plans to get her youngest girls involved in Empowering our Little Sisters (EOLS). Delivered with help from United Way agency partner Ka Ni Kanichhk, EOLS provides mentoring opportunities for Aboriginal women and children in the community.
Of United Way and its essential network of programs and services, Cecilia says. "It changed our family...it made our family better."
And to others who may be facing similar challenges, she says: "The Aboriginal community needs to know there are resources and there is help. We have been given a beautiful gift: the will to choose. We choose a path everyday. We can make a choice to better our situation for ourselves and our children. Know we have the power to break the cycle."
