Rachael Bawn

A few summers ago, I started going to Camp Connections. I saw this young singer, Rachael Bawn. She somehow became a small inspiration to my life. I had never spoken to her until a couple years after. She is a Youth leader to many young teenagers. One summer I got her as my dorm counselor and she said, if there's anything I needed to speak about I am welcomed to come to her. So I had finally opened up and spoke to her.

She inspires me because with all she has been through she decided to keep reaching for her dream. She has shown me that in life bad things happen and you still need to keep going and look on the positive side of things. Rachael is also reliable because I know she'll always be there whenever I need her, because she keeps her promises and always shows her support. I'd like to say that Rachael is very perseverant, because she never gave up on her dream of being a singer even if at one point she gave it all up and stopped for a while. She continues praying to God and God gave her the opportunity and she took it and continued.

There have been many obstacles that Rachael had to overcome. She grew up in a very poor family and she never owned very much. She and her siblings never had many toys, they shared clothes and had hand-me-downs, she lived in a 3 bedroom house with a family of 8 people. Rachael and her 5 sisters are very close because they only had each other to play with and find entertainment. It wasn't until she was 14 and got her first job that she was finally able to have things that were new and hers. A second obstacle was that she lived in the country, 2 hours north-west of Toronto, and if she wanted to make it as a singer Rachael had to move to the city. The summer after Rachael graduated high school, she moved to the city, got a job, and had to learn responsibility as an adult. She struggled to pay bills, but began writing and recording with a producer. There have been many roadblocks, disappointments, and let downs in Rachael's musical journey. She has had many fresh starts, and many doors closed, but Rachael never gave up. She has pursued her dream no matter what and now things are finally taking off! She is recording her first album, and getting to travel the world because of her music. Rachael will be shooting her first music video and releasing her first single in the near future. She is getting to perform her songs in front of big crowds on a big stage, and it has not been an easy road, she says, but it has been worth it! Everything she has been through only made her stronger. Rachael's major achievement is when she was 17 and finally gave her life to God. She was tired of living the way she had been, all she did was party with her friends and focus on boys. The camp she was attending had a huge impact on her and, over time the way she thought and how she viewed the world, started to change. Rachael felt a shift in her heart and knew that she needed to make changes in her life. She had to make sacrifices and cut people out of her life that weren't good for her. My hero started praying, reading the Bible and talking about God . She was starting to understand what it actually meant to follow God, and not just believe. Rachael has never regretted a decision to follow God. It's where she found hope and security. She knows she is loved, and she completely trusts that there is a plan for her life, and as long as she continues to strengthen her relationship with Jesus she will always have a purpose she says. Rachael is now very involved in a wonderful church called The Meeting House with the slogan (Church for people who aren't into church). It challenges her, and teaches her, and forces her to grow.

One event I would like to share about my hero is when her dad passed away 2 years ago. He suffered from throat and neck cancer for over a year, underwent radiation treatment and it seemed like he beat the cancer. About 9 or 10 months later it came back, this time in his lungs, and for that there is no treatment. They gave him 9-12 months to live and 11 months later he passed away. This is something that brought Rachael much closer to God. I don't know how people that don't have faith deal with loss. She clinged to the hope that she will see her dad one day in Heaven. She knows that he is no longer suffering and for that she is glad. It has been a very tough thing to face, but her family have gotten through it together. She knows that she has had a wonderful father for 23 years who loved her and shaped her. She was so lucky to have him for the time she did because she knows people who had bad fathers, or lost theirs at an even younger age. She says she is a better person because he was her dad, and she cannot be angry or mad at God for taking him back. Rachael knows that we are not entitled to anything in this life, so we must cherish the good things we do have for the amount of time we are lucky to have them! She has her moments of absolute sadness, and pain, but it is just part of the grieving process, and my hero gets through each day knowing that she was lucky to have him as her dad! My hero is very proud of who he was and appreciates the way he faced his battles, and never lost his faith through the whole thing! I chose this event because it has been the hardest thing My Hero has had to face in this life so far. Losing a parent is something you kind of just think happens to other people. When it happens to you in reality, it hits hard. We can either choose to face it and grow from the challenge, or we can let it destroy us. Rachael has too many blessings in her life, and too many people that love her for her to let herself be destroyed by something that doesn't have to get the best of her. In this life we are given many choices, and she wants to look back knowing that everything she did could bring her to be happy, and loving, and to encourage and support people. Rachael wants to use this experience to grow, and be stronger. She can relate to other people who have lost a parent at a young age, and she thinks she can be an example of strength and perseverance to others. And when people look at her and wonder why she is the way she is, she can tell them that it is only by God's grace, love, and strength that she gets through each day. He is the source of hope, and comfort and peace.

Rachael was born in Rexdall, outside of Toronto. She had a stern upbringing. Her parents are Christian and they went to church. Her dad was very strict, they had a lot of rules and he was very protective. Rachael couldn't wear makeup until high school and wasn't allowed to date until she was 16. She and her siblings had curfews, and there were consequences if they broke a rule. Her parents spanked them, they got sent to their rooms, or grounded. At the time my hero hated it, but as Rachael looks back, now and she realises that her parents taught her many things: respect, responsibility, great work ethic, and to be kind, compassionate, caring and generous. One thing her parents really taught her was how to forgive. They were great examples and lived all of these things out. Because her family were poor she has learned the value of money and that you must work hard for it. Furthermore, she has also learned that money isn't everything, and that you shouldn't have an attachment to material things because she never had much. Her parents had a very good marriage, until her dad died; they were married almost 26 years. Her family, as well as herself, had a very stable home and good environment. My hero is very grateful for the way she was raised. It was not easy, but she has realised now how it has all shaped her and she appreciates the life her parents provided her with. They always put an emphasis on family and how important it is; family always came first above everything. They didn't have much, but they had what was needed; love, support, encouragement, and faith. As an anecdote, she has learned the value of volunteering. She has volunteered as camp counselor for about 8 years now, and she has always walked away from each experience feeling like she got something out of it even though she wasn't expecting to. Rachael has also started leading a youth group once a week, this is now her 3rd year as a youth leader. She realised that no matter what is going on in our life, if you start focusing on others and trying to help in some way, than you focus less on yourself and you become more positive if you stop looking at all the bad things in our life, she thinks it will start looking out around us and see what we can do for others then something inside us begins to change and things don't seem so bad. Rachael also thinks; that if we focus on others then we get something out of it too, and we feel happier. Her new motto in life is to stop looking in, and start looking out. It is very simple, but she finds it to be very powerful. We will always have struggle, but we can still find joy in those times because we are relational beings, and when we focus on relationships and caring for other people then we find happiness no matter what. In my eyes, I would present an award to Rachael Bawn, my Hero because, she is a Major inspiration to my life. I'd like to present an amazing award like this to Rachael because she has shown me how to look on the positive things of life, even though some things are negative; you can't always have your way. I can always count on her to be there and help me out. She has taught me that I will always be able to turn to God and know that he will always be by my side.