Debi Steven is a warrior woman creating waves of change in the Gender-Based Violence charity sector. After surviving being raped twice as a young girl, Debi has been on an incredible journey of liberation, empowerment, and healing.

As a young woman, Debi was convinced that if she was able to join a karate class and become a martial artist, she would be able to protect herself from the danger of sexual violence. Debi quickly mastered the art of Shotokan Karate and was off to represent South Africa at the Womens Cup in Tokyo Japan.

Debi realised that ending Gender-Based Violence was more than being able to protect oneself through martial arts. In 2013, Debi founded a charity called Action Breaks Silence in hopes of creating a world where no woman or girl would experience the trauma that she had experienced as a little girl. Action Breaks Silence is an educational charity, established to create a world where women and girls can live their lives free from the fear of gender-based violence and the threat of such violence.

To address problem of Gender-Based Violence, Action Breaks Silence engages the entire community. Through a multi-pronged approach, rolled out through the Action Breaks Silence Community Intervention programme in school settings. Not only are schools a micro-community raising the next generation, but they also offer access to the community at large; teachers, support staff, families, guardians.

Action Breaks Silence is a long-term solution as it works with children from an early age and continues working with them throughout adolescence and into their adult-lives.

Children will start the 12-Hour School Intervention in Year-5 in which the girls will go through the 12-Hour Empowerment through Self-Defence and Active Bystander Programme. While the boys go through the 12-Hour Hero Empathy and Active Bystander Programme. Parallel to the 12-Hour School Intervention, teachers, parents, and guardians are offered Empowerment through Self-Defence, Self-Love / Self-Competence Workshops.

Once the students enter secondary school, they will enter the Youth Ambassador Programme, a programme designed and led by youth. The Youth Ambassador Programme tackles Gender-Based Violence in youth relationships and promotes peer mentorship. Eight Year-9 pupils will be selected as Youth Ambassadors and they will run the Youth Ambassador Programme for the new Year-7 grade group while also acting as their mentors in the new world of secondary school, teen dating, and activism.

Action Breaks Silence offer a Train the Trainer Programme, this programme offers an opportunity to learn how to deliver the Action Breaks Silence Programmes and Workshops. This acts as a job opportunity as community members are upskilled and hired to deliver the Programmes and Workshops.

Debi has dedicated her life, her story, and her time to Action Breaks Silence and its beneficiaries. The 15th of April is Debis 51st birthday, and we want to celebrate and give back to the community. If you know Debi, youd know the only thing she would want is to be able to impact more lives by empowering more people. We would like to raise a minimum of £510 in honour of this warrior womans 51st birthday.

All the money raised will go into Action Breaks Silence and its beneficiaries. Please help us out by donating, liking, and sharing!