The Freedom Walk
by Kamilah Fabien
The sun has not yet risen and the darkness is filled with the sound of crickets, frogs, mosquitoes and above all the sound of marching feet.
What voices can be heard, speak in hushed whispers in respect for the man at the head of the procession. He has taken a vow of silence for the next twenty four hours.
He walks with a steady but quick pace and stops only to use the bathroom, in the hopes that his efforts will bring awareness of the drug problems faced by Trinidad and Tobago.
He also walks to celebrate his twenty years of being drug free and the sobriety of other recovering addicts like himself.
He hopes to demonstrate to those who still abuse drugs, that it is possible to live a clean life if they take one step after another.
Walking the walk
Errol Fabien decided to do the Freedom Walk in response to the rise in violent crime in Trinidad, a rise which he thinks is directly related to drug trade and abuse.
“If you want to see less crime, you have to get rid of the drugs,” said Fabien after he broke silence in Port of Spain.
What did the walk accomplish?
As part of the freedom walk initiative, sponsors and members of the public donated funds through a telethon held by Gayelle. The telethon was held live in the studio, while the walk happened across the country.
The telethon aimed to collect one million TT dollars but only succeeded in raising four hundred thousand dollars in honoured pledges.
Sponsors included Eastern Credit Union, Courts, Nipdec and Unit Trust, but many other organizations came out to participate in the walk on the day.
A feeling of togetherness
Former Miss Universe, Wendy Fitzwilliam, President of Trinidad and Tobago, Honourable Maxwell Richard and calypsonian slash politician Gypsy were among some of the high profile participants at the walk.
However many other citizens participated and some said they felt a sense of having a common cause with those around them.
“It was like we were all in the same family, with the same goal. To support Errol and to better T&T,” said one member of the public.
Along the length of the walk many people cooked meals, offered their bathrooms and cheered from their homes as the procession passed by.
The after-walk
Freedom Talk is a fourteen part television series which will be produced as a result of the money raised from the telethon.
Freedom Talk will be aired in late 2009. The series will focus on substance and substance abuse in a magazine format.
Guests will appear to talk on the show about substance abuse and the program will also contain features.