Hello from Riga

I was meant to be here for Christmas but apparently I walk too fast…

A challenging but fun trek from Estonia. After letting Stig and I stay in his opulent home, for our last night in Tallinn, HMA Chris Holtby pulled some stings and arranged a free stay in the equally fancy ‘Merchant’s House Hotel’ (www.merchantshousehotel.com) I nearly became emotional when I discovered our room had a bath…I hadn’t seen once since I left Glasgow and although they’re great for tired muscles, while trying to toughen up your feet they’re not such a good idea, but now (four months in) it’s safe to say my tootsies could handle it. Bliss…

The Ambassador met us again in the morning, at the old town hall, to join me on the walk as I set of for Latvia. Stig was about to experience life on the road but before he headed off 15 km to wait for me, I handed him some cash to fill up on diesel. Then Chris suddenly handed me a plastic bag full of tea (British tea is almost impossible to find anywhere…) We suddenly realised that these two surreptitious exchanges probably looked like a cheeky wee drug deal, then we all laughed like it was the end of Thundercats…Chris also brought Ryan, from the Embassy who brought his wife and new baby. I loved walking out of the city with a new family pushing a pram, it reminded me of the first mile in London. Chris broke the record for Ambassadors walking with me, as he stayed by my side for two hours (10km) then humbly jumped on a bus back to the Embassy. As we waved goodbye I had a funny feeling I’d somehow see him again soon…

This was the first decent distance I’d walked since Sweden but the temperature was now about ten degrees lower. The problem with walking in a kilt is that my legs feel the cold and cold muscles pull more easily. A niggling pain was stirring below my ankle but I figured it would simply work itself out…

The following day, I left Yvonne and agreed with Stig that I’d see him for lunch in three hours (around 15km down the road) but after four hours and still no sign of him, I figured something was up. It was at this point I discovered my phone had died…No way to contact Stig and no GPS, I decided the best plan was to stay on the road and just keep walking until he catches up. 30km later a car pulled up and out popped Chris. He explained that he was passing Stig a few km back and his driver recognised Yvonne. Thankfully they stopped to say hello as Yvonne needed a jump start and Stig was having real trouble finding an English speaker to help him. It was divine that Chris (literally the only person Stig knew in the whole country) just happened to be driving down this same road at that very moment. It was 70km from Tallinn but the Ambassador was travelling to an event in Parnu, Estonia’s next biggest town. Sometimes the way things work out on this walk are almost spooky.

The reception I was receiving from the folk is rural Estonia was different to any other country so far. Every hour at least two or three cars would toot and wave to as the passed me. It made me feel very welcome and in fact very safe, and all this from a two minute slot on national television. Stig later told me he had been given free groceries by a shop keeper who saw him drive up in Yvonne and realised he was with ‘McVarish’ :)

100km from Tallinn, the pain in my leg was slowing me to half my usual pace and when I stopped to inspect, I discovered my achilles tendon now resembled an angry red golf ball. My paramedic brother Roddy had provided me with a number of break-and-shake ice packs and my pharmacist sister Libby had given me in-case-of-emergency painkillers, so with little choice I sat doped-up in Yvonne for two days with my leg on ice, enjoying the irony that my Achilles Heal turned out to be my Achilles Heal…

Still, just outside Parnu at this point, I was interviewed again by local press and invited to give a talk to heads of local and national police, and more heads of child protective services. They asked what I think the police should be aware of when someone comes to report child sexual abuse. I explained that it is crucial to simply begin from a place of assuming that the person is being truthful. It seems that when someone reports sexual abuse, the investigation begins not with the accused but with the victim, in determining how likely they are to be lying. In the UK, new guidelines were introduced earlier this year by the Director of Public Prosecution, which aim to make the process of reporting far less daunting an intimidating from the victim. I don’t imagine such guidelines have been established in Estonia quite yet. Before leaving the government building, I noted that their county flag has three bears on it. When I enquired why this animal is the emblem of the area, they explained that there are ‘many bears here’. Smashin…Not like I was about to be walking alone through 300km of forrest or anything…

Anyhoo, my leg was ‘ok’ and time was getting on, so I decided to keep on trekking but the weather just wasn’t funny. After Parnu, I was heading south down the coast with the Baltic sea right beside me. Now, if its raining and your in a city an umbrella can be a welcome companion but when its raining and your walking down the windy Baltic coast, an umbrella becomes more like and annoying drunk friend. All you want is to walk down the road but you keep needing to stop and get him out of fights. The gail nearly pushed me over a few times. It was that fantastic blasty wind that hits you like a door and stops you breathing. Add the freezing rain and the threat of grizzlies and really its time to start laughing…Most would probably cry in these circumstances but I have a secret weapon for when I realise that I look pathetic, I hear Tom Urie’s voice in my head saying ‘Nay Luck’ and no matter miserable a state I’m in, it always makes me laugh.

When I reach, Yvonne after 40 Baltic kilometres, I am usually drenched, cold and exhausted. Yvonne is a kind soul but she’s no the warmest place to sleep. It’s also impossible to dry anything, so this usually means I set off the next morning in a cold wet kilt and soggy boots. That night, Stig had found a 24 hour garage with a wee cafe. After a cup of tea, (that I could barely believe was only 20p) I spoke to the staff and showed them the Road to Change article in the Estonian Newspaper. When I explained that Stig and I were about to sleep in a the freezing wet van out the back, they allowed us to run a cable through an open window, which meant we could run our electric heater all night and I was even able to dry out my boots :) Angels are everywhere!

I normally walk six days and rest for one, (rest as in ‘not walking’ but this is when I usually blog and catch up with emails to coordinate events in the city I’m heading to…) but with my tendon holding me up for two whole days, I figured I’d just keep going till I hit Riga. It took just over a week but (as ever) we made it on time. All campsites are now closed for winter so with nowhere to plug in Yvonne to get heat, the next best thing is a cheap hostel. Stig had searched online and found one only 3km from the city centre. It was a masterclass in how to take a cleverly angled picture that makes your hostel not look so filthy. It was apparently a converted fire-station. It’s ‘kitchen’ was a hot plate and a microwave, all covered in dried-on food and used plates. The dorm held 16 beds and the showers had a toilet beside them, which might seem standard but I mean there was a row of showers and at the end a toilet, all in one room. As if you’re going to sit there reading the newspaper and chatting to a bunch of folk as they shower…After that challenging week on the road, all we needed was a good night’s sleep but that wasn’t to be. At 2am, the lights came on and four of the Russian speaking guests chatted at full volume as they got dressed and headed of to work (I presume) It took me nearly an hour to fall back asleep but the next group got up at 4am…Again, all lights on and another loudest speaker competition ensued…And again the next crowd at 6am…I gave up trying to sleep and started looking online for anywhere else to stay…Not to sound ungrateful, we are on a extremely limited budget and this place was cheap, warm and dry but as my reason for being in Riga is meetings with Embassies, government and directors of national organisations, I need sleep. It’s kinda important that I am able to speak and think clearly…I sent an email explaining the Road the Change to the interestingly names ‘Funky Hostel’ right in the city centre. Eve, who runs it, replied immediately inviting us to stay there the rest of the week, Free! It was a different world. A massive homely apartment, with a clean kitchen and free breakfast in a beautiful old tenement building, just a short walk from everything. The dorms held no more than six but for the most part it was only Stig and I sleeping in the room. If you are ever in Riga, forget extortionate hotels and head straight for Funky Hostel. Eve’s made us feel we literally had a home for the week and we caught up on all the rest we so sorely needed.

The Road to Change is a walk around Europe but every time I reach a new city my first stop is usually the British Embassy and the second I enter their gate I’m technically back in the UK…The Ambassador was out off the country so I was honoured to be joined for a walking tour of Riga’s picturesque old town by The Deputy Head of Missions, Richard Koizumi. I like how I usually get to walk with the people I meet instead of just sitting around a big boring desk drinking coffee. It seems to charge the conversation with the definite sense that we talking about action and not just for talking’s sake. Also joining us on the walk was Inguna Ebela and her daughter Danute, from the Latvian Save the Children. These wonderful volunteers are not official members of Save the Children International but they have around a thousand members. Their activities range from direct services assisting with childcare to addressing government and pushing for legislative reform, and all this entirely without secured funding. Apparently what money does come into the country seems to get lost somewhere before it reaches these organisations, so they’re working on nothing trying to help protect children. Inguna was very pleased to hear that I had such a positive reception from both media and government in Estonia and promised to pull every string to get me in front of the right people while in Latvia.

I gave our press release to the Embassy’s media officer and also to Danute, who were both going to reach out to TV, Radio and press on my behalf (I hadn’t had any response from my own attempts) Within an hour, Ingua called to say she was chasing an MP for me and the next minute, I received and email via the Embassy saying I was to be at the Latvian Parliament the following morning. As much as possible, we like to plan ahead but at the same time, I enjoy the slightly renegade operations that go on when Road to Change has arrived in a new city. I arrived at the majestic building with my passport as instructed and was so grateful that I had remembered not to bring the two cans of pepper-spray that usually always live in my pockets (for scary dogs…) Still, the security guards did not seem too pleased to see me at all. They started making phone calls and looking at me, talking to each other then looking at me again but no one was talking to me. (I don’t understand much Latvian anyway…) I quickly gathered that something else was seriously amiss…

Apparently…Many years ago, a very large MP (large in every way) had become too large even for his own trousers, and so one day he turned up to address the chamber wearing shorts. This inappropriate attire offended his fellow MPs so gravely that they immediately passed a law decreeing that all men inside the Latvian Parliament Building ‘must be wearing trousers’, and here I was bolding in a kilt…When I realised that I was in fact ‘braking the law’ by standing in the foyer with my knees on show, I (hopefully quite eloquently…) explained that in Brussels, I had been invited to the European Parliament and inside there I saw people of all nations wearing their nation dress. I was here to meet a Latvian Member of Parliament and for reasons of both national identity and pride, I was wearing my kilt. I calmly insisted that I was not going to miss the meeting and I certainly wasn’t going home to get change first. Few more phone calls and furrowed brews later and I was quietly waved in. Not the law I came here to discuss but this was officially the first legislative reform which happened thanks to the Road to Change…

Finally inside the Parliament, I met Romualds Razuks, MP, Chairman of the Government Review Committee. After the obligatory tour of their beautiful building, we sat and talked for an hour about Latvia, child sexual abuse and the statute of limitations. Before becoming and MP, Mr Razuks worked as a neurosurgeon, so he seemed genuinely concerned and fascinated when I spoke about the new evidence into the neurological damage. From brain scans of abused children we can now see how they are physiologically different to the brain of a child from a healthy upbringing. The many complex and subtle ways that this ‘brain damage’ can manifest within the growing survivors mind is unquantifiable but often detrimental and life-lasting. The statics speak for themselves. Its bewildering why governments don’t do more to prevent sexual abuse when we understand that it is one of the major contributors to so many social ill. As well as depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, prostitution and PTSD, child sexual abuse has now been linked to terminal illness and early death. The Statute laws mean governments save money in police and court’s time but the end up spending a lot more on ‘clean up’ from the consequences of sexual abuse…If abuse was reduced all these other social horrors would be reduced too, imagine what a world that would be. Mr Razuks could see this, and how the Latvian Statute of Limitations currently allows this damage to continue. He then agreed to have a review of the law added to the agenda for discussion in an upcoming debate.

We also discussed ‘Independence’. The Baltic States have been independent from the former Soviet Union for just over two decades and Scotland has been offered such an opportunity next year. He recalled this period with decreeable excitement and was keen to know my feelings on Scottish Independence. I understand things are heating up back home and the debate often falls back into the little understood economic impact. Scotland has many natural resources, and while everyone seems to go on about the oil (which will all be gone in 50 years anyway) it is also extremely windy and we have plenty rivers…There’s also exports like wool, whisky and the millions made each year from shortbread (seriously) Then there’s tourism, the Edinburgh international Festival and every growing success of the Scotland’s contribution to the International arts scene, with the National Theatre of Scotland, Scottish Screen Scottish Ballet etc etc…For a country of just over five million, Scotland has a lot of resources…Mr Razuks explained that Latvia’s resources are its land and it’s people. That’s a humble list. I thought for a minute about how to phrase this but I said something along the lines of ‘If people are one of your main resources, surely addressing one of the major causes of damage to your people would be a priority’. It was a very positive meeting. (I am aware the British Ambassadors often read my blog so I am mindful of what I say about Scottish Independence but I am walking 10,000miles in a kilt…)

This blog is too long, sorry, but it’s quite a big adventure…

I was also invited to meet and speak with a wonderful organisation called ‘Marta’ Resource Centre for Women. Fortunately, they were holding a training day so staff from across the country were in one room in Riga. (www.marta.lv) Their work is essential and I am so glad they are there for the victims in Latvia but as I often see, they are a centre for female victims. (As stated on their materials) They did say a man once called them too. That’s wonderful, of course. I am pleased to hear he found the strength to make that approach but as one in six boys in Latvia will become victims of sexual abuse and one in six men are already survivors, it’s important their government finds the funds to create a centre tailored for men too. In NYC I attend the Male Survivor conference. With 10,000 members worldwide and around 600 who could afford to fly to and stay in NYC for this event, it demonstrates the lengths some male survivors have to go to to find help. I walk for all survivors, men and women, girls and boys but often I see this imbalance within the countries means and services to address the issue.

Again, I met the child’s ombudsman and explained why the Statute of Limitations must be removed and again they said this will be taken into further discussion. I will be sending them complimentary evidence to what we discussed and following any develops on this matter as I walk on.

Then finally, after this busy busy week, I set off for Vilnius, Lithuania, but after recording a wee video in the centre of Riga’s old town and I started walking I made one final stop at ‘Centrs Dardedze’. Their centre does many things to address and prevent child maltreatment. They have specialised interview rooms where children’s statements can be recorded with police watching on a screen in the next room. They have those anatomically correct dolls so children can show what body parts were used in the abuse (Ingenious but still the most depressing toys every conceived) and they have established the most wonderful adventure journey that small children are taken on, to learn how to keep themselves safe in the real world. Their centre seems to have been very carefully developed and has been appropriately invested in financially to create such a wonderfully comprehensive service. Coincidently, they too were hosting a training day so I was able to speak to staff from across Latvia in one room. They asked many questions, to which my answers were translated back into Latvian. When asked, ‘what is the hardest thing about the walk?’ I gave the comedy answer ‘wild dogs’ and showed them the two bottles of pepperspray that live in my pockets. (www.centrsdardedze.lv)

As I waved goodbye to them, and Riga, I had their question stuck in my mind. What is the hardest thing about the Road to Change? After a few miles, I figured the true answer is this: ‘I walk through the some of the most beautiful cities and meet some of the kindest people in the world but all I find is the same deep sadness everywhere I go’

Next stop, Vilnius, to do it all again…

Thanks for reading,

Matty x