The MASSIVE hikoi walking the talk against sexual violence stopped to share its fibre with Bream Bay College students on its march north yesterday.
The college at Ruakaka was the first of several Northland secondary schools and community venues that will be visited by hikoi being led by Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis.
"We've had enough of sexual violence, of any kind of violence. We are done with it," Mr Davis told the students.
At each school and at a ceremony planned at Cape Reinga, where the hikoi will end in two weeks, the group will plant a flax and make presentations highlighting that message. At Bream Bay College, head boy Lucas Hargreaves and other student leaders helped plant the flax at the school's entrance.
In Maori tradition flax, or harakeke, was symbolic of family bonds, safety and relationships, Mr Davis said. The hikoi's banner MASSIVE stands for Men Against Sexual Violence, plus "speak out, intervene and educate".