A charitable trust has been set up by Mercy Sister, Marcellin Wilson, to provide facilities in Wellington for homeless women who are at risk. Sister Marcellin said she first became aware of the need in 2010 when she received a call from the Wellington Central Police Station requesting accommodation for two women, 20 and 24, Read more
The Archbishop of the Church of Melenesia, David Vunagi, says unemployed people should be sent away from the capital, Honiara, in a bid to reduce crime. “As long as we continue to have people who are doing nothing in Honiara, this is where all this criminal activity is beginning to develop; stealing, shoplifting, even snatching Read more
Fiji based social justice advocate, Father Kevin Barr, has launched a new booklet in which he argues that greed, individual and corporate, lies at the heart of the current global economic crisis. Key issues discussed in the booklet include: The “scandalous” aspects of wealth and poverty in the US and other countries; The current growing Read more
Over 14,000 thousand people, including 5,000 children, have been displaced from their homes by the Fiji floods. These families are sheltering in over 200 evacuation centres and many lack regular access to water, food and essential items. Water and electricity shortages across the Western Division are creating a potentially dangerous situation for thousands more. The Read more
A World Bank report offers rare good news on global poverty. According to World Bank estimates released on Feb. 29, in every region of the developing world the percentage of extreme poverty, people living on less than $1.25 a day, and the total number of global poor declined between 2005 and 2008. World Bank researchers Read more
A former diplomat who asked for his name to be withheld for “obvious reasons” says church donations burden the poor and they should be bold enough to “at least admit” that it contributes to hardship within families. He said the church needs to stop being “ignorant” about the plight of poor people who are “slaving” Read more
When I was a sweet and protected young thing in 1960s Australia, beggars were the stuff of legend. As I walked sedately to my lectures, an old chap would stop me every now and then and ask me for a bob. That was my sole experience, and my father was disgusted. You know what that’s all Read more
A Whangarei church will feed a record 750 low-income families this Christmas, albeit in a different way.
The Elim Christian Centre, formerly known as the Equip Church, will deliver food packs to needy families in Whangarei rather than organising a Christmas dinner which it did previously.
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Because I’m Catholic, and therefore have some expertise in guilt, I’d like to start with a confession: I was under the impression that I was asked to speak tonight on poverty and inequality. Andrew Bradstock persuaded me that these issues fitted with the paper on alcohol and advertising, which I read while drinking a glass Read more
Food banks around the country have empty shelves and no back-up as a wave of need hits New Zealand. Foodbanks from Auckland to Dunedin are reporting empty shelves and with Christmas looming they are asking for food donations – specifically canned soup, fruit and spreads. The Auckland City Mission said their food parcel statistics were Read more
