BRAVE Fundraising - Lucy Brock MWNZ

Hi, I'm Lucy Brock.

I feel very privileged to be championing and supporting the community organisation and soon-to-be official charity, BRAVE as one of the Miss World New Zealand contestants this year.

ABOUT BRAVE:

BRAVE was established last year to raise awareness about sexual violence and provide support and tools to young people affected in New Zealand.

It's often a taboo subject that's not openly talked about - but here are the NZ statistics:

- In NZ, 1 in 3 girls will be subject to an unwanted sexual experience by the age of 16 years.

- Only an estimated 9% of total incidents are ever reported to police.

- 90% of sexual violence is committed by someone known to the victim

Some of the BRAVE projects include:

- Secondary school visits teaching students about sexual violence.

- Self-defence workshops to teach young girls how to defend themselves and feel more empowered

- A partnership with New Zealand's sexual violence help support service 'Safetotalk' which offers free, confidential and non-judgement support from trained specialists

- A petition with youth-led organisation ActionStation calling for better policies to increase sexual violence education in schools and more appropriate support services

HOW IT STARTED:

BRAVE was founded last year by Jess Tyson (Miss World New Zealand) as her Beauty with a Purpose project, which is the heart and soul of the Miss World competition.

Jess herself was a victim of sexual violence:

"As a child, I was a victim of sexual abuse and at eight years of age I went to court to fight the case in a trial against the perpetrator. Unfortunately, my family and I lost the case - but on the positive side, I was really lucky at the time to be surrounded by an amazing, supportive family and people who cared for me. With counseling and family support I healed really well following the experience and have gone on to live an amazing life!

I know that the topic of sexual abuse or violence is hard for people to talk about or heal from and people are often too afraid or embarrassed to ask for help. I would like to share my story to young New Zealanders that if they have been victims of any type of sexual violence there is support available to help them heal from it and I want to be there to help them." - Jess Tyson