Student on a mission | Olivia Luxon

STUDENT ON A MISSION

Prestigious award will help student give a voice to the plight of vulnerable women.

Congratulations to Year 13 student Olivia Luxon who recently won the 2019 Zonta International Young Women in Public Affairs (YWPA) Award. The Zonta Programme encourages young women to pursue leadership roles in society that will make a difference in the lives of women worldwide. The YWPA Award recognises young women aged 16-19 who demonstrate leadership skills and commitment to public service and civic causes. Olivia was selected first from Auckland applicants, then from the New Zealand winners before being chosen from a group of 32 ‘District’ winners from around the world.

Olivia is certainly well-deserving of the award, namely for her role as a Tearfund Youth Ambassador where she has committed in many ways to helping vulnerable women and speaking out on their behalf.

Most recently, she visited Cambodia through Tearfund, and says the trip opened her eyes to life “beyond our everyday bubble”. The trip gave her insight into the deep societal and personal issues that come from intergenerational trauma, in Cambodia’s case the devastation and genocide of the Khmer Rouge under Cambodian politician Pol Pot. She met people who were children under his regime, and who are still affected by the experience, even today. Olivia says seeing the impact of organisations such as Hagar, which works with trauma victims in Cambodia, gave her hope.

Her Tearfund involvement was sparked by a 2015 trip to Manila in the Philippines where she spent time working in the slums. During the trip she visited a home for children rescued from sex trafficking and wrote a slam poem based on her experience, which was then picked up by Tearfund. Last year she travelled to Nepal and Thailand on a Tearfund trip called ‘Journey to Freedom’, to learn more about sex trafficking in those countries. As well as seeing Tearfund’s rescue and prosecution work in action in Bangkok, Olivia also visited remote villages in Nepal to meet women’s action groups – girls aged between seven and 25 years – who gather together to educate their communities about the wiles of the human traffickers. She says it was truly inspiring to meet these women and children and see up close the difference their empowerment could make.

“Meeting these girls face to face and hearing their stories was incredibly moving and motivating for me,” Olivia says. “I knew then that I wanted to bring change for these girls and thousands like them not yet saved. I wanted to seize this opportunity to do something about this issue and get to work alongside such an incredible organisation.”

Olivia has spoken for Tearfund at numerous events including high-level dinners and the Justice Conference, addressing large and small audiences, and has been interviewed on TVNZ’s morning show The Café. She’s also jumped on a bike to represent Dio in Tearfund’s Poverty Cycle, encouraging

her school-mates to help her fundraise for Tearfund’s anti-human trafficking cause. She says the role has given her an incredible platform from which to introduce the issue to others, and has helped her grow in confidence, and enhance her leadership and communication skills.

Beth Harper, Engagement Manager for Tearfund, says Olivia is a compelling speaker and advocate for Tearfund. “We have got to know Olivia well and feel incredibly privileged to count her among Tearfund’s first Youth Ambassadors.”

Olivia wants to continue speaking on behalf of Tearfund, to raise money and help it advance its urgent cause. To others who are considering the role she advises: “You must be passionate and active … [find something that] makes your heart ache and ignites you to want to make change. Be prepared to be bold, take risks and step into an unfamiliar space. Be creative and find ways to spread awareness of your issues and link with organisations that are doing great work in your area of your passion. You don’t need to be perfect in your attempts, you just need to have an internal driving force.”

Olivia is delighted the award recognises the importance of young people working for other young people, and says it is an honour to be selected from such an amazing group of international young women working with equal passion for causes in their own communities.

“It illustrates that though we are only in our teens, we can have an impact and we can contribute toward changing our world for the better.”