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Girl
power
To feed her addiction, Kerrisdale-raised Caroline MacGillivray
heads to the Downtown Eastside, where her Beauty Night has touched
10,000 lives
by
MICHELLE HOPKINS
DJ is
zipping around at such a speed, it’s dizzying. The 40-year-old
reformed sex worker and crack cocaine addict is making popcorn and
tea for the “ladies” in the PHS Lifeskills Centre in the Downtown
Eastside.
This
tiny dynamo - who weighs 90 pounds dripping wet and sports a
T-shirt that reads “Girl Power” - stops long enough from her
volunteer duties to tell her life story.
She’s
been raped, beaten and nearly killed. DJ has lived on the Downtown
Eastside for two decades. She’s on husband number five, has had
hundreds of “clients” over the years and has a lifetime addiction
to crack cocaine.
Known
as Mom on the streets, DJ credits Beauty Night with giving her
purpose in life and making her feel good about herself - something
that is echoed over and over again throughout the night by many of
the women here.
Four
nights a week, Beauty Night - an evening of pampering and fun
reserved for the disenfranchised women in the poorest postal code
in the country - hosts parties for “clients.” They come for a free
manicure, hairstyle, make up application, companionship and lots of
hugs.
This
night, the ladies have a choice of a facial, watching the movie
The Notebook, card making or simply kibitzing with the other
women.
Safe
from the rain and the mean streets, Carol, 54, is painstakingly
trying to glue some sparkles on a card she is making. Her hand
shakes slightly as she looks up to discuss her “descent into
hell.”
One
of nine children raised by an alcoholic mother, Carol was on her
own at 12. It wasn’t long before she became addicted to alcohol and
drugs.
The
shy, quiet First Nation Cree has survived living on the streets,
prostitution, cancer and regular beatings.
“I
have been sober for 16 years and I help others on the street
through a street ministry,” she says proudly. “I love coming here;
you aren’t judged. … Caroline and the volunteers treat you like a
real person.”
Eight
years ago, Caroline MacGillivray headed to the Downtown Eastside to
research an upcoming acting role. The actress went there in hopes
of finding sex workers willing to talk to her about their lives on
the streets. While volunteering at the WISH Drop in Centre,
MacGillivray, who was raised in an affluent Kerrisdale family,
styled the hair for one of the street workers and then gave her a
manicure.
“She
hugged and thanked me, while tears streamed down her face,” says
the 30-something MacGillivray.
That
encounter became the seed which blossomed into Beauty
Night.
Today, Beauty Night
has mushroomed into a nonprofit organization with branches in
Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto. To date, Vancouver’s chapter has
provided more than 10,000 makeovers for marginalized women and
youth.
MacGillivray shrugs
and laughs when asked why an attractive young woman would spend
endless hours on the seedy side of town.
“It’s
my addiction,” she says. “I tell people I work to pay for my
addiction.
“One
of the things we do through our work with Beauty Night is restore
each individual’s sense of dignity by treating them with respect -
through creating a compassionate and safe environment, both clients
and volunteers are able to flourish.”
For
information, visit beautynight.org. mv
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