Sam Troth is raising awareness for male survivors of sexual abuse step by step by walking from Bluff all the way to Cape Reinga.
On Friday, December 9, Male Survivors Bay of Plenty hosted a breakfast for Sam to celebrate making it to his hometown here in Tauranga as part of his hikoi.
The 39-year-old started his walk from Bluff on October 24 and plans to stride into Cape Reinga on December 30. Sam is doing the walk for his healing journey after surviving sexual abuse perpetrated by a family friend for several years. 'I'm also doing it for everyone – all survivors of sexual abuse whether they're male or female…just to be an ambassador to get help and be a face that people can relate to and an example of if you put in the work you can get past it and move forward in life.”
Starting conversations
Having walked for more than 50 days – Sam has connected with a lot of people along the way and started conversations. 'Those have been cool. Some conversations have been quite brief and others you end up on the side of the road for 15 to 20 minutes talking to someone about their experience or their family member's experience – so it sort of reiterates the fact that it is widespread and it happens so much more than everyone talks about.”
Male Survivors BOP branch manager Bruce Montgomery, who is also Sam's counsellor, says there are a lot of social barriers for men who have experienced sexual abuse seeking help. 'Men aren't conditioned or it's not in our DNA for us to talk about what's going on with us…for men there's a higher level of shame attached to actually putting your hand up,” says Bruce.
'It was only around the year 2000 that it became legal for women to be charged for raping men. 'People don't know that.”
The statistics
'There's just over 150,000 men in the whole of the Bay of Plenty and what we know is that one in six men will experience some form of sexual assault in their life.” That statistic equals 25,000 men locally, says Bruce. 'We've had just under 90 men come through the service in the last two-and-a-half years.”
Asked what needs to change for men to start speaking out more and seeking help, Bruce says: 'Society accepting that it does happen to men”. 'Sexual abuse is a taboo subject for a lot of people and people don't like talking about it – that's what we're up against.”
Sam is continuing the rest of his journey to Cape Reigna where he'll be met by family. 'It's probably going to be quite emotional and surreal really to complete the walk.” Follow Sam's journey at: https://www.facebook.com/roadtohealingaotearoa