Posts Tagged ‘Poverty’

City Mission sets up online food bank

Tuesday, July 10th, 2012

City missions in Wellington, Auckland and now Christchurch are benefiting from an online food bank provided by a fundraising website called Fundy. “Basically we sell the products online, people go on and buy the products, and at the end of the month all of the products that have been purchased [on the online food bank] Read more

Being poor in New Zealand

Friday, July 6th, 2012

A friend recently posted on Facebook “Sleeping in the lounge with the children to stay warm….Brrrr”. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or feel sad about this. I can relate to the fact that it is a cold winter and my old 1950’s cottage is a challenge to heat up even with several heaters on Read more

Pressure to send remittances puts pressure on Pacific migrants

Friday, June 29th, 2012

The need to send remittances home makes it very difficult for for Pacific Island migrants living in Australia to save and invest in assets or the education of their own families. It creates enormous pressure often leads to resentment. Queensland University Associate Professor Richard Brown said Samoans, Tongans and Cook Islanders have a culture of Read more

Online game simulates living in extreme poverty

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

A  new online game has been launched by a nonprofit organization devoted to ending extreme poverty. The game, Survive125, helps players to get some idea of what it is like to live in extreme poverty, a reality for 1.3 billion people,  by challenging them to survive one month on $1.25 a day. While playing the part Read more

Pacific Island Churches behind Advance Pasifika March

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Pacific Island churches have supported the Advance Pasifika March which took place in Auckland last Saturday. The call to march came from the Auckland City Council appointed Pacific Peoples Advisory Panel, which says it wants to stop being a “rubber stamp” for council policies and create an independent Pacific forum. The chairman of the Advisory Read more

Exploited Fijian women work 7 days a week for NZ$40

Thursday, June 7th, 2012

A Wellington business woman is in court on a charge that she exploited Fijian women who say that she treated them as slaves. Two Fijian women have described how for months they worked seven-day weeks for $40 (US$30) in the home of the Wellington businesswoman who is charged with exploiting them. “I was just like Read more

How the poor are made to pay for their poverty in the US

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

In a book called “Wage Theft in America,” the author calculates that wage theft costs employees $100bn at a minimum each year and possibly up to $200bn. The way to steal from those who live in poverty is to do so “in ways that are systematic, impersonal, and almost impossible to trace to individual perpetrators,” according Read more

Budget gives with one hand and takes with the other says Caritas

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

Short-sighted policy changes, taking with one hand while giving with the other, may leave vulnerable groups short-changed in this year’s Budget, says Catholic social justice agency Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. Caritas Director Julianne Hickey says the Catholic agency assesses the impact of Budget measures through the lens of the common good: what will contribute to Read more

Campaign launched for ‘living wage’

Friday, May 25th, 2012

A campaign has been launched for a “living wage” in New Zealand, inspired by policies in United States cities and London. The Living Wage Aotearoa NZ campaign is drawing support from unions, churches, Pacific, women’s and community groups. continue reading

Fiji’s poor getting poorer because of demands of village and church

Friday, May 18th, 2012

Poor Fijians are becoming poorer because of the traditional demands of village and church, says Father Kevin Barr from the People’s Community Network. He says that the number of people living in squatter settlements is likely to increase. Many now living in the settlements used to work in the sugarcane industry and have moved into Read more