Kelowna’s Walk of Memories helps mourners

Natalie Shuba reflected on the loss of her fiancé as she takes Kelowna’s Walk of Memories.

She said it helped her have a breakthrough in the grieving process after her partner passed away in January.

“I’ve had a few tears,” she said.

The Walk of Memories is sponsored by the Kelowna General Hospital Foundation. It involved several interactive stations set up along a kilometre-long walk where participants could remember loved ones who passed away.

Dozens of grieving individuals showed up to participate in the event, which is now in its third year.

Tossing a stone into water symbolized the ripple effect a lost loved one can have on a life.

A station with a map marked a place walkers could honour a person’s birthplace.

People could also draw or build in the sand.

At another stop, mourners could write messages to their loved ones on small flags.

The messages were attached to a boat and sailed through the water at the close of the ceremony.

Derek Koch, a spiritual health practitioner at Kelowna General Hospital, said the goal of the walk is to help slow down the grieving process.

“What I’ve found is that we don’t actually take enough time to grieve because society just pushes us along, and so this is an oasis, a place to step out of the traffic,” he said.

“Naturally we isolate ourselves when we go through something difficult, and then we bury it and we become compartmentalized beings. We can’t live holistically that way,” Koch added.

Pam Moss, a key speaker at the event, said the goal is to bring people grieving together and offer support in a different form.

“The one common thread that’s woven throughout everyone’s story today is that they’ve experienced the pain of grief, the pain that comes with losing somebody,” she said. “And so today we just want to let everyone know they’re not alone.”