Kahira Rata-Olley will be taking on a 300km trans-tasman run to raise awareness around domestic and sexual abuse and to inspire others to speak out.
Kahira Rata-Olley is running to stop sexual and domestic abuse.
She says, “It's to get the message out there that domestic violence and sexual abuse it should not be accepted in our families and in our communities and we need more of our whānau to stand up.”
Her own story of abuse happened when she was just a little girl, something that has taken years to put behind her.
“I was sexually abused from the age of seven to the age of 10 by a whānau member and I was also in a relationship for almost 15 years, and it was spent 13 years of that in domestic violence, and it wasn't only me that was affected by it, it was my son.”
Two years ago she did 200km from Rotorua to Flaxmere, now she's tackling 300km beginning in Australia and ending in Rotorua.
“We're going to start at 4.30am and try and beat the heat. I lived in Australia for almost 14 years, so I know what the heat's going to be like. Hence I'm down in beautiful Flaxmere today to try and adjust to a bit of this heat.”
Her run will finish on November 25, White Ribbon Day, with all updates posted to her Facebook page, Running to Stop It.