With all the celebrities that pop up on our screens and in magazines you might think that only the famous are to be admired. But what about the 8,000 Olympic torchbearers, many of whom were ordinary people with ordinary lives?
If you had been presented with an opportunity to carry the Olympic torch wouldn’t you have jumped at the chance? That’s exactly what happened to Venetia Palmer, a 23 year- old from Croydon who was nominated to carry the torch because of the transformation of her life from wild child to outstanding youth leader.
Venetia’s moment in the spotlight happened when she ran 400 yards with the torch in front of a packed crowd in the London Borough of Sutton on the afternoon of Monday, 23rd July.
How did this former wild child get the privilege and honour of bearing the torch? Venetia takes us back to where it all started; her upbringing in a violent and disturbed household.
“My dad left when I was three, and my mum had been mentally and physically abused by him so much so that she became ill and was hospitalised. I was fostered and that’s when the anger started.”
“It’s sad because my mother didn’t know how to love her kids. Instead she wanted love from men and somehow I abandoned my femininity and started dressing and acting like a boy.”
Initially Venetia was a popular girl at school, eager to learn, but that changed as she started to release her anger. “I got no support from mum. When she couldn’t afford to get things for me, I would shop lift, and things went downhill. I got caught, got into a fight and before I knew it I was banned from a shop altogether.”
Venetia speaks of how she hurt and upset many people during this period of her life, made three-suicide attempts and self-harmed. She failed all her GCSEs and was recorded as having the worst behaviour ever known in her school, along with a one-year criminal record.
There is a solution
“For many people with issues like Venetia’s an invitation that speaks of change is quickly brushed off. A typical response is: “No thanks, this is not for me. My problems are way too big to be solved through faith.”
“Indeed, it’s somewhat alarming how people say ‘NO!’ without knowing what the invitation is. Not everyone who invites you to a faith-based activity is talking about formal religion. You may think it’s one thing but in actual fact it’s something completely different.” said Miguel Lacerda, the national youth coordinator for VYG.
And, it was through an invitation like this that Venetia’s story began to change when her mother was invited to the UCKG HelpCentre in Croydon.
Seeing the positive results in her mother, who through learning how to be practical in her faith, remarried and started living a happy and fulfilled life, Venetia took a similar path and joined the Victory Youth Group (VYG). Gradually she turned her life around and eventually became a good example to others. “I was taught to trust in God and I gradually lost my anger,” she said.
In time, an employee of the local authority noticed Venetia’s confidence and tolerant, non-judgemental approach when helping the young and old and nominated her to be an Olympic torchbearer.
Venetia may not be a Hollywood celebrity but she is a star where transformation is concerned. It happened simply because one family member accepted an invitation to a rather different church and two women changed their luck completely.
This story does raise a rather serious question: could your “Thank you, but NO thank you!” approach be causing you to miss opportunities to change your luck?
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Related Press Releases
• Former wild child becomes Olympic Torch Bearer 25 Jul 2012
