This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending an animal sanctuary in Brisbane, Australia, which first caught my attention because of a video uploaded on Tik Tok. Fast paced images of adorable cows, zany goats, and special needs animals of all walks of life flashed across my screen, tugging at my heart strings and ordering my fingers to Google Search for this sanctuary in an almost involuntary fashion.
As I Googled “Deathrow Unchained”, eager to find out more, it wasn’t long before I already had tickets booked and the following day, we were off to make some new furry friends. What I did not expect upon arrival, however, was not just that the animals were even cuter in person, but to be moved by such an inspiring, yet tragic backstory behind the creation of the foundation that left me questioning if I’m doing enough to make the world a better place. Founder Kate Bijkerk founded Deathrow Unchained in 2015, but what sparked new hope for animals that need homes, have special needs, or are in need of rescue was Kate’s own tragedy. Before the sanctuary, Kate worked with high risk, high needs children, who came from troubled and neglected homes. These children, who were prone to violent outbursts, needed empathetic people like Kate to give them a chance in life. However, this all changed when one night, Kate was violently attacked by five men, following her drink being spiked. This attack was so gruesome that it left brutal physical scars, such as a broken nose, a fractured skull, missing teeth, damage to her chest plate and a hematoma which caused menstrual issues (Blooming, 2020). Unfortunately, it also left emotional scars, as Kate was diagnosed with PTSD, following the attack.
After being admitted to a hospital, where she received her PTSD diagnosis, she was told that she would no longer be able to return to her dream career of helping high risk, high needs children, because it would trigger her PTSD. Kate mentioned that, because violence is all some of these children have ever known, it was normal to be assaulted on a weekly basis. Stubborn and in denial, Kate insisted on returning to her previous line of work, insisting that she could push through whatever the doctors warned would cripple her ability to help these children any longer. Kate was shocked and heartbroken to find out the hard way that they were right. Kate was no longer in the proper head space to work in this environment and it crushed her to leave everything she had worked so hard for and her dream in life, all because of something that should have never happened to her.
Did Kate give up? Did she wallow in her own pity by asking “why me?” Well, this is what a life coach accused her of doing and is what sparked something in her that changed everything. This life coach asked her what the one thing she wants to do most in this world and Kate responded with opening an animal rescue. The life coach told her that no matter what financial hardships she would face, if it was truly the most important thing to her as she said it was, she would find a way to make it happen — and so she did. A lengthy court process concerning Kate’s attack was going to end in a payout, but Kate had no idea this process would be drawn out over the course of five years. What this meant for the sanctuary was that it was started before any money came in. They were nearly dead broke and unable to fund the level of care needed for these animals, until finally the check came through, right as the sanctuary was standing on its last leg.
This animal sanctuary is run on a complete volunteer basis; no one gets paid and every dollar that people contribute in donations or through tour tickets goes straight to the animals. As a result of Kate’s sanctuary and the amazing volunteers that take the time to care for these animals, they have saved over 3500 animals. Coming full circle, the sanctuary is working on programs to work with high needs children, to incentivize them going to school and victims of domestic violence. Kate explained that these animals helped heal her way before she was able to heal them and they can help heal others too. There’s a lesson in Kate’s story; despite suffering immense pain, both physical and mental, whatever you may have been through in life does not have to be your final story. You can be more than what has happened to you.
While Kate never should have never been subjected to the violence that changed her life that fateful night, amazing things came in its aftermath. This speaks to the tremendous courage and strength that it takes to pick yourself up and have the audacity to keep moving forward. Not only did Kate move forward, she helped others move forward with her. She chose compassion, instead of feeling hatred towards others. Kate continued to feel empathetic for the children she could no longer work with, for animals, and for other victims. I believe Kate realized that being angry and resentful would not erase what had happened to her. Being compassionate can heal wounds caused by uncompassionate people. Sometimes going through unspeakable pain enables you better than anyone else to help those who are hurting the most. If anyone reading this has endured physical violence, emotional abuse, mental illness, or some other source of suffering, there are better days ahead of you; but the only one who can untether you from the chains of your trauma is yourself. Choose compassion.
Blooming, N. (2020, April 15). Kate Bijkerk: A voice for the voiceless. Kayla Sylvester. https://kaylasylvester.com/2020/04/15/kate-bikerk-a-voice-for-the-voicel…