Never Give Up

I dedicate this blog to Malcolm Richards.

It’s almost unbelievable how difficult trying to get somewhere with your abuse can be.
From hoping that people will understand what it is you have experienced, to imagining that magically there will be a change in attitude from the community surrounding you. Sometimes it just feels easier to give up the battle.

Many of you have had experiences where you did stop trying, and gave up hope that somehow, somewhere, someone, would at least listen to you and then believe you, and when that didn’t happen, it just got too hard and eventually the will for justice dwindled.

For anyone struggling through this trauma, here’s something I believe will inspire you to keep going, when you’re considering giving up.

I had the great honour recently, of interviewing some survivors who were abused in care within New Zealand. The royal Commission of inquiry, released in August, highlighted that over a period of seven decades, more than 220,000 children were abused sexually, and sometimes physically, by those tasked with caring for them. (This does not account for the children who were murdered).

One of those children who survived this abuse, Malcolm, has never stopped trying to get the case before the authorities. Over the last 44 years he has resoloutely and relentlessly tried to get some action taken for those survivors from Lake Alice.

The response from New Zealand Leadership spanning those years?
Government after government have either ignored it, covered it up or passed it onto others, so that in the end, nothing was ever really dealt with or resolved.
We now have the completed findings from the Commission of inquiry where finally some action may be taken.
During our interview, when Malcolm was asked what he would like the world to know, he responded with ‘Never give up’.
I don’t know about you but that coming from a man who has spent over four and a half decades trying to be heard is just phenomenal.

Staying in the ring and fighting for your right to be heard and understood is perhaps the most courageous thing you will ever do in your life. You will never regret it.
What you may however regret is if you give up.

For you, knowing what needs to be resolved for peace to be found is momentous.
No one can take that from you or even begin to understand the complexities that lie within it, but on the very day when you feel like giving up the hope and giving up trying, I just want you to remember Malcolm and the work he has done to try and get resolution in whatever way that may look.
There is hope.

Never give up, never ever give up on you, yourself, your dreams and the life that you are making for yourself.
You are way too important and matter far too much to ever not have your own back.

Who knows where this will lead you, but where you are right now is exactly where you’re meant to be, and facing into the challenges you are navigating every day, is a part of who you are.
You may look back on this time and recognise a pivotal moment where ‘that is why you never gave up’, you may also look back, and realise that is why you were here doing what you did.

Please, if you do one thing for yourself from this moment it is to believe you have it within you to continue. You are far too important; your story is too significant to not be understood and respected.

I will never give up on you, please do me the courtesy of never giving up on yourself.