Never too Young to Say It's not OK
18 June 2010
Ciara Nolan, 13, wowed the audience with her speech about domestic violence at the launch of the exhibition It's Time We Started Telling These Stories in Porirua on 10 June.
Ciara spoke alongside Nelson It's not OK Champion Tremain Mikaere, whose story features in the book It's Time We Started Telling These Stories and Brian Gardner who appeared in the It's not OK TV commercials.
Ciara spoke about the different faces of domestic violence and moved the audience with her plea for domestic violence to stop. Her word-perfect speech was written when she was 11 for a school competition. She chose domestic violence as her topic because it is a serious problem that affects many people.
Tremain spoke about how he turned his life around after growing up with violence and the work he does with young people in Nelson living the life he has left behind.
Brian Gardner endorsed the work of the It's not OK Campaign bringing family violence out into the open and shared his story of becoming violence free.
The exhibition of the artwork from the book It's Time We Started Telling These Stories is touring New Zealand communities showing in public libraries and other community venues.
If you would like to have the exhibition in your community please email areyouok@msd.govt.nz
