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New Memoir Depicts a Survivor's Mission to 'Kill the Silence' of Rape

monikakorra.org

Monika Kørra, of Norway, was a student at Southern Methodist University in Texas a few years ago. She competed as an elite-level track athlete, but her life took a major turn when she was kidnapped leaving a party and brutally gang raped.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 74% of rapes are never reported and 15 out of 16 rapists never go to jail. Fortunately in Kørra's case, all three men were found and arrested within a week of her attack.

Although Kørra’s attackers were caught and convicted, her recovery was long.

"I had all of these emotions inside and I had a hard time getting them out. I didn't know what to do. I felt sad, frustrated, but I didn't know how to deal with it," Kørra says. "And it was hard for me to talk about what had happened, so my solution became to write it down."

In addition to getting back to running, Kørra spent two years writing down what happened to her and all of the emotions she felt to gain the control she lost that night back. What first started out as an outlet for healing became a memoir, called Kill the Silence: A Survivor’s Life Reclaimedand a way to help other survivors.

Today Kørra works through her foundation on behalf of sexual assault victims, traveling and speaking around the country to show that one's life can be reclaimed after a traumatic event.

"Of course (the rape is) a part of my life because now it's a part of what I do, it's a part of my work," she says. "But to me now it's not about what happened to me any longer, it's just how I can use what happened to me to help others. And that just gives me hope everyday."

Audrey is a WUWM host and producer for Lake Effect.