Telling stories is an essential part of being human. Marketing those stories keeps booksellers in business so it’s an interesting twist to find that major chains intend to boycott Breaking Silence: The Kahui Case, Macsyna King’s story about the death of her twins, a tragedy that has horrified New Zealanders. “There’s no way I can Read more
Pope Benedict has decried an approach to agricultural production based solely on profit, and called for steps to protect family farming, as he met on July 1 with leaders of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He spoke of hunger born of selfish behaviour. He said persistent world hunger was a “tragedy” driven by Read more
On 2 June Archbishop John Dew was one of the Church Leaders invited to speak at the launch of the Closer Together: Whakatata Mai information programme. This is a project of the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services of which the Catholic Church is one of the six member churches. The project is targeted specifically Read more
In Apia, Samoa, children are used to win sympathy by some street vendors. Parents are using their children as a bait to win people’s sympathy, says Security’s Officer, Aloi Perosi. “That’s why many of them are out here at a very late hour,” he says. “It’s not about selling goods. It’s about people feeling sorry for them and then giving them Read more
The 19th General Assembly of Caritas International is taking place in Rome this week and is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the confederation. Over 300 delegates are working on plans to strengthen their service working alongside and on behalf of the poor. Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is represented by Director Michael Smith Read more
While discussing the Budget some commentators on Thursday’s Radio National “Afternoons with Jim Mora”, it may even have been the man himself, asked was not the Standard and Poor that everyone is so respectful of the same organisation that got us all into financial strife in the first place. There was a suggestion that New Zealand should take the Iceland Solution Read more
The Fiji Government refutes Knut Ostby’s statement that Fiji is not doing enough to alleviate the rise of poverty. Knut, the UNDP Resident Coordinator has urged the Government to “review its response to the (poverty) problem, saying government has not done enough. “There have been attempts in Fiji for various social welfare schemes, programs, assistance to elderly destitute and Read more
The United Nations Children’s Fund is concerned about poor people living in urban areas in Pacific region as global food prices rise. Since 2009 UNICEF has worked with six Pacific Island countries to establish early warning monitoring to track the impact of economic crises on the most vulnerable and to provide real-time pulse data”. It found Read more
Long term planning is needed, but the real need is to immediately move children out of poverty. The time for talk is over says Child Poverty Action Group. It says the Government must act to protect children now, not some time in the future. The Minister of Social Development, Paula Bennett, has announced a Green paper Read more
It’s a wild and blustery day in Wellington today and this morning’s Dominion Post warned us to leave our brollies at home. Certainly great advice in these winds. Then I flicked over a few pages and came across the Genesis Energy advertisement asking us to muck in to help our neighbours in Christchurch and fly Read more