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Molly Burke is helping others find their voice by Dominik Kurek Oakville Beaver Staff 13 | Thursday, April 11, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Oakville's Molly Burke, who lost her sight at a young age, knows well what it's like to be without a voice, but she will not stand idly by and allow others to be left without a say in life. The 19-year-old is a long-time champion of the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Now, she is also a motivational speaker with Me to We and a Free the Children ambassador who is speaking out for the charitable organization's upcoming annual day of silence event, We are Silent. It falls on Free the Children's anniversary, April 18. "I will absolutely be silent, but I will be really loud on my social media site and we're encouraging people to do the same because that's really the awareness-raising piece," said the White Oaks Secondary School graduate. "The reason why I think it's important is to support our brothers and sisters around the world who are silenced. We have the power to reach out to those people." A number of schools are participating in the campaign, including St. Thomas Aquinas and White Oaks high schools and River Oaks and Post's Corners public schools. But, the campaign is not just for students. It's for everybody. The We are Silent campaign, formerly called Vow of Silence, challenges participants to raise pledges and awareness in a stand of silent solidarity with children around the world whose voices are silenced by not having their rights upheld. find my voice, but they're not even given the op- an opportunity to see Free the Children founder portunity to find theirs. They don't have the abil- Craig Kielburger speak and was inspired by the exity to stand up for themselves. That is why I'm so perience. Afterwards, she spoke with him. passionate about doing it myself and encouraging She also travelled to a rural part of Kenya during other people to do it as well." a Me to We trip, where she helped build a school Burke began losing her sight at age four as a re- and witnessed and experienced local cultural acsult of retinitis pigmentosa. The challenge of learn- tivities. In Kenya, Burke met a girl who become a ing to cope with blindness wasn't the end of her close personal friend to her, named Cynthia. struggles. Burke faced bullying day in and day out, The Oakville teen said her new friend had shared and depression. her own story, about a life without access to medi"The reason why I'm personally passionate cal care, education or clean drinking water. about (We are Silent) is because when I was strugBurke then began working for Me to We. gling with bullying and depression and suicidal Me to We is a social enterprise whose charity thoughts, I felt like I didn't have a voice. I felt like partner is Free the Children. It offers life-changing I was screaming for help and no one was hearing experiences and products, and half its net profits go me, that the voice I had didn't really count, it didn't to Free the Children. matter. I know how that feels," she said. Since then, Burke has spoken at We Day events "When I started really discovering that I do have across Canada and recently in the U.S. She said she's a voice and my voice is very powerful, I realized not nervous about going up and telling her life story not everybody has been able to find theirs again before thousands of youths at Me to We events. She Molly Burke and not everyone has the opportunity to do so." has been a public speaker since the age of five. Burke' s journey with Me to We began when she Anyone can get involved in the We are Silent Free the Children says there are 300 million started looking at college or university but no procampaign. To register or for more information, visit children under age five who live in areas of armed conflict, that 58 per cent of deaths to children un- grams seemed to be a right fit. Then, she was given www.freethechildren.com/wearesilent. der the age of five are caused by infectious diseases O'Connor MacLeod Hanna LLP is pleased to welcome James McAskill and that one in three children in developing couninto partnership and to announce his certification as a Specialist in the tries is malnourished, suffering up to 160 days of area of Real Estate Law by the Law Society of Upper Canada. illness each year. The campaign aims to raise awareness about such issues while raising money for Free the Children to fight these global problems. "I realize those people, their voices are silent," said Burke, now a Toronto resident. "I was able to checK out the Brand neW, reDesigneD O'Connor MacLeod Hanna LLP, is pleased to announce the addition of James McAskill to the Partnership in our law firm and congratulate him on his designation as a Certified Specialist (Real Estate Law). James articled with our firm and has been a lawyer here since 2003. James practices in the areas of Real Estate and Municipal Law with a primary focus on commercial real estate. His practice involves acting for municipalities, developers and builders on property development matters, including land assemblies and exchanges, the registration of subdivisions and condominiums, the transfer of easements, the registration of agreements on title and the negotiation and registration of leases. He also acts for owners, municipalities, public utilities, developers, builders, financial institutions, private mortgage lenders, hospitals and charitable organizations on the acquisition, sale and financing of residential, recreational, institutional, industrial, retail and commercial properties. We want to congratulate James on both of these well-earned achievements. Please feel free to contact James with any of your business issues or questions. He can be reached at: Tel: 905.842.8030, ext. 3304 Email: mcaskill@omh.ca Don't Miss out! Visit the new saVe.ca toDay to start saVing ­ great coupons on amazing products, sent right to your home or printer. 700 Kerr Street, Oakville, ON, L6K 3W5 www.omh.ca