Marnie Grundman

I… WE are NOT black sheep. WE are radiant glow-in-the-dark sheep. Not white, not red, blue, yellow, or any other ordinary primary colour. WE are the sheep that lead the way, the beacons of light that fought, survived and shattered cycles.

How many times have you been to a party or a small get-together where the topic of sex has come up? Seemingly innocent questions like “when did you lose your virginity” or “how old were you when you had sex for the first time?” can (and often do) land really hard for a sexual assault survivors.

Cyntoia Brown was released from prison yesterday, yet she is far from free. She will always be the survivor of rape, of trafficking, and the girl who had to take a life to survive. She will carry with her the triggers that are born of abuse and a childhood that never was.

Sometimes preventing child abuse doesn’t come from calling a hotline. Sometimes preventing child abuse starts with taking a deep breath, and following the path of most resistance… it comes from breaking the cycle, and beginning the heart-work of repairing one’s self.

This why so many children end up on the streets; unprotected and alone.

Every now and again I search for the girl that took me under her wing when I lived on the streets so many years ago. Lawrie was a huge part of my life for a short period of time. It might have been 6 months give or take, but it felt… feels like 10 years. I don’t remember how we met, I only remember that she became my “family” in an instant; I even took on her alias last name making us official cousins to anyone who would ask. We were 2 girls, 14 and ? on the inside, 19 and 24 on the outside. We lived homeless floating between cocaine houses and apartment complex saunas.