Rinelle Harper addressed the Assembly of First Nations last December, just weeks after she survived an attack near downtown Winnipeg. We see a 16-year-old girl with dark brown standing behind microphones. Her eyes are puffy and she appears just a bit lost.

Rinelle Harper addressed the Assembly of First Nations last December, just weeks after she survived an attack near downtown Winnipeg. We see a 16-year-old girl with dark brown standing behind microphones.
Photo Credit: cbc.ca

Following horrific abuse, two Canadian women bond in their efforts to move forward at peace

Both have experienced the worst mankind has to offer. Both survived. Now, each provides sustenance and love for the other.

One is a 34-year-old journalist and now a best-selling author. The other is a First Nations child of 16 who dreams of going to university. Because of this pair’s friendship, that could very well happen.

Amanda Lindhout is trying to help Rinelle Harper get to university. We see a lovely woman with long brown hair that drops to her shoulders. Wearing a red dress, she has a gorgeous smile.
Amanda Lindhout is trying to help Rinelle Harper get to university. © cbc.ca

The journalist, Amanda Lindhout, was held hostage for 15 months in Somalia where she was tortured and repeatedly raped. Somehow, she found a way to forgive her captors and wrote a memoir, A House in the Sky, about her ordeal and its aftermath.

The First Nations child, Rinelle Harper, was left to die beside a river in Winnipeg last November after a brutal and horrific sexual assault. She continues to make her way back to sanity.

Their paths intersected several months ago when Rinelle’s mother, Julie, and Lindhout made contact on Facebook.

Rinelle, her mother said, had been inspired by Lindhout’s strength in the face of adversity.

Lindhout reached out to Rinelle. They spoke often by phone.

Then, last month the Harpers’ home on the Garden Hill First Nation burned to the ground. Lindhout immediately began raising money for the Harper family.

She didn’t stop there.

Rinelle Harper has a meeting next week with administrators at St. Francis University about a possible scholarship. She is looking directly at the camera with sad eyes.
Rinelle Harper has a meeting next week with administrators at St. Francis Xavier University about a possible scholarship. © cbc.ca

Knowing how desperately Rinelle wants to go to university, Lindhout made contact with her alma mater in Nova Scotia,  St. Francis Xavier University, to set up meetings for Rinelle and her mother with school officials to discuss a possible scholarship.

Still, a big hurdle remained. A hurdle solved by the kindness of strangers.

Because the Harpers had no money to pay for flights from Winnipeg to Nova Scotia, Lindhout put a message on Facebook, appealing for Air Miles donations to pay the flights.

Within two hours, two women from Edmonton, Leah Brown and Rosanne Alldis, who had never met the Rinelle, came through with the Air Miles.

Meetings between the Harpers and St. Francis Xavier officials begin next Wednesday.

RCI contacted Lindhout by phone in Australia, where she is on a speaking tour.

Listen
Categories: Health, Indigenous, Society
Tags:

Do you want to report an error or a typo? Click here!

For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.