- Across the world, 1 in 5 children will be sexually abused before the age of 18. In 2013, Matthew McVarish, actor and child sexual abuse survivor, walked 10,000 miles around Europe on 'Road To Change-Walk' to 'Stop the Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse'. In 2015, he returned to Scotland hailed a hero.
- Communicating starts a shift in collective consciousness. Communication can change the world.
World Health Organisation statistics determine that across the world one in five children will be sexually abused before they are 18 years old, in the EU alone that is an estimated 100 million victims of child sexual abuse.
Why then, is such a pervasive problem not discussed openly? On 31st May 2013 as part of the new European programming conducted by Stop The Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse, Inc., a one man 10,000 mile walk around the EU called the Road To Change began in a bid to do just that.
The walk was ultimately to harmonise legislation across the nation and catalyse a change in public perception, shifting the people affected from victim to survivor status, inviting people to talk openly about the problem.
It was undertaken by a survivor of child sexual abuse himself, the then European Ambassador for Stop The Silence, Scottish actor and writer, Matthew McVarish. In 2013 he started the walk as an artist with a small team, little funds and no idea what he was heading into. In 2015 he returned to Scotland literally hailed a hero followed by 100s of supporters as he walked the Last Mile down Edinburgh's Royal Mile. So what happened in the 20 months between? Throughout the documentary Matty speaks freely in time capsule like interviews shot during the project. These combined with other accounts from the team and its supporters, and the grass roots information delivered by industry professionals, offer an in depth and well rounded disclosure of not just the mission, but of the epidemic itself.
Watch as the essence of the issue naturally transpires the questions and answers as the project snowballs around the 10,000 mile route.
The Walk becomes a journey of discovery. McVarishs steps around the EU through mountains, villages and endless woodlands encapsulates the isolation and loneliness of CSA and the heart of a survivor. Travel with him step by step as he makes some noise in an area otherwise desolate.
The film gathers momentum moving from the rural country side to the mountain villages, toe nails coming off, hurricanes passing over, police charges being filed, meetings at the Council of Europe and Ministry of Justice, cats being killed and kittens being rescued, meeting the Pope at the Vatican and a presentation at the United Nations before coming back to where the project started in the UK, where, at the Scottish Parliament First Minister Nicola Sturgeon meets Matty and considers the cause.
Priceless and unique real accounts of dealing with child protection policy across a nation as multicultural as the EU, as well as listening to a CSA survivor on a mission recount his own experiences and perception of the issue, is intriguing, educational, heart warming and harrowing. As the quests true motivations and answers are presented to us, this is a surprising and enlightening disclosure of both the life and law-changing program that was the Road To Change and how the issue of CSA itself impacted the cause...
Watching this film will open the gates to much needed life changing communication, and un-shroud the silent epidemic that is Child Sexual Abuse.
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Top Gap
By what name was Road to Change: The Walk to Stop the Silence, Stop Child Sexual Abuse (2017) officially released in Canada in English?
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