After eight years in New Zealand, Dinesha Amarasinghe, her husband and her three sons have been told they will be deported back to Sri Lanka. The reason: Dinesha has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Continue reading
Posts Tagged ‘immigrants’
Cardinal Ribat – Immigrants should be welcome but they must show respect
Monday, June 19th, 2017
Cardinal John Ribat of Papua New Guinea is all for policies of compassion and welcome for immigrants around the world. But he says immigrants for their part have to show respect for their host societies. “As a visitor to a country, or even to a home, you’re always conscious you’re a visitor,” he told Crux Read more
Changes in immigration rules will halt flow of health workers from Philippines
Monday, May 1st, 2017A significant number of workers in the health care sector in New Zealand are from the Philippines. Health worker Aeziel Niegos came to New Zealand in 2008 with a dream of settling here and becoming a Kiwi. But the 39-year-old, who is earns $19.54 an hour as a house leader in an Albany health care Read more
Pope Francis: does what he talks about
Monday, February 20th, 2017
Whenever Pope Francis talks about the need to welcome immigrants, to build bridges not walls, and to invest in the countries from which people are fleeing, critics inevitably will ask, “Okay, but what are you doing about it?” From snarky observations about the walls around Vatican city to wry observations about all the under-utilized ecclesiastical Read more
Migrants causing unemployment – Salvation Army say yes PM says no
Friday, October 21st, 2016
The Salvation Army says there is persistent unemployment in the 15- to 24-year-old age group and this is related to immigration. It says as a country we need to have a rational and open debate around the role of immigration in New Zealand’s future. In a report, What Next, released this week;the Salvation Army suggests Read more
Three new Hindu temple opened in Auckland this year
Friday, May 29th, 2015
Auckland’s third new Hindu temple this year will open in Henderson next month. Community worker Pravin Patel said there were now 17 Hindu temples across Auckland. The city’s Hindu adherents increased by more than any other religion between the 2006 and 2013 censuses, from 45,324 to 61,458, and are now 4.3 per cent of all Read more
Controversial Bishop Gray backs family facing deportation
Tuesday, February 24th, 2015Controversial Anglican, Bishop John Gray, says he can offer a Christchurch family, who sought refuge in a church to avoid deportation to Chile, a home within his church’s grounds. The Ravet family have lived in New Zealand for 11 years, but the parents’ work permits have expired, and they face deportation to Chile. They had Read more
Unaccompanied child immigrants
Friday, July 4th, 2014
On Christmas Eve, 1991, I was preparing to celebrate Mass. I was at Casa Romero, a hospitality center for refugees set up by the Diocese of Brownsville in response to a massive number of Central Americans fleeing violence by heading north to the USA. Because I had some time before we were supposed to start Read more
Assyrian church helps small community
Tuesday, June 10th, 2014A new church is helping forge cultural roots for a small community. The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East opened its doors in Manurewa. Father Toma K Toma, who came to New Zealand from Iran in 1992, acknowledges the church has come a long way from its early beginnings and is happy to Read more
Prayer room ‘just good business’
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014Employing people from all corners of the globe has many benefits, according to Mt Albert Pak ‘n Save owner-operator Brian Carran. The supermarket won the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust diversity award for innovation in 2005 after Carran set up a prayer room for Muslim staff. “It’s just good business,” he says. “It’s just being a Read more