Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Tunchai Redvers is putting new meaning into the phrase "following in someone's footsteps."

Tunchai Redvers is walking 8,000 steps a day to raise money for a CARE Canada campaign called Walk in Her Shoes. - Danielle Sachs/NNSL photo

The Grade 12 Sir John Franklin High School student is raising money for CARE Canada, an organization that fights global poverty.

The campaign, called Walk in Her Shoes, aims to empower women and girls in the developing world.

"Many of these girls have to walk 8,000 steps every single day just to get basic necessities like water," said Redvers.

The steps work out to approximately six kilometres. Redvers has challenged herself to complete the distance eight days in a row, while going the extra step and carrying a bucket filled with water.

"The first day I filled it with water and because of the way I'm carrying it the bucket put a big strain on my shoulder," she said. "It's really given me a better understanding of what life is like for those girls."

Redvers set her fundraising goal at $500. As of her third day fundraising, she had already passed it.

"A bake sale at the school raised $188, friends and family have donated about $160 and the Racquet Club just donated $200," she said.

This is not the first time Redvers has taken extra steps to help people in need.

In Grade 10, she and a friend raised $4,000 in two days for the Haiti Relief Fund after a devastating earthquake hit the country. Redvers also volunteered at a Bolivian orphanage for two weeks last summer.

"It was a life-changing experience," she said. "Two weeks was not nearly enough time."

Redvers decided to take part in the most recent campaign because she was looking for something to do and international development is the field she's interested in. She will be attending Guelph University in the fall and hopes to one day start her own non-governmental organization (NGO).

The campaign is a nationwide challenge and Redvers is encouraging Yellowknife to join her on her eighth and final day. Redvers is hosting a community walk on Monday, May 21, on the Frame Lake Trail. The event starts at 1:30 p.m. in Somba K'e Park. She'll be providing the buckets.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.