Posts Tagged ‘immigrants’

Changes in immigration rules will halt flow of health workers from Philippines

Monday, May 1st, 2017

A 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
unemloyment

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, 2015

Controversial 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, 2014

A 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, 2014

Employing 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

Migrant people breathing new life into rural Churches

Tuesday, February 11th, 2014

In  2012 Immigration and Associate Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said  “Migrant workers make up a small but significant part of the dairy industry workforce, filling the gaps where there are not enough New Zealanders available.” “There are now around 1500 migrant dairy workers in the country, making up 6% of the workforce. The majority come Read more

The traditional American family has been outsourced

Friday, September 27th, 2013

If you’re looking for a two-parent, man-and-wife, never-divorced kind of family, head to one of those citizenship ceremonies. If you want to find traditional American family values—a man and a woman officially married to one of their “own kind,” no plans for divorce, an older dad who is the breadwinner, a stay-at-home mom—the best place Read more