The family is among five others linked to the church cluster in Auckland that has just left quarantine (MIQ).

Reflecting on her family's ordeal with Delta, Patricia Tosoga said the family was "so blindsided by it because only one of us from our household went to the service and then came home, and our whole family got it."

A month later, all seven family members are out of MIQ.

Tosoga says the hardest part was learning her infant boys also had the virus.

"I can honestly say that I was in tears as well as my whole family because just hearing that the little ones and the oldies were most vulnerable to it," she said.

When the family contracted the virus, they were living in an overcrowded house in Avondale.

Sine being released from MIQ, they've been reunited and helped into a temporary home in Otahuhu.

"They've basically moved us in here as, like, transitional housing just to wait until they can find us a bigger home," Tosoga said.

Although all the adults in Tosoga's family worked, the money dried up when the positive results came in. This was the case for many in the Mangere church cluster,

"So they've all come out with a lot of uncertainty on jobs, on rent arrears, issues around mental health," said Assembly of God church advocate Jerome Mika.

Cooperation is the only way to solve the problem, he says.

The response to Maori and Pasifika during the pandemic has long been considered too fragmented.

The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Su'a William Sio (pictured), says he's listened and accepts the old way of responding doesn't work for the most vulnerable.

"The siloed working of government doesn't address the complexities of issues that these families face," he said.

South Seas Healthcare and the Penina Trust, a Pacific-focused housing and mental health provider, have joined forces to help families recover from their COVID-19 crises.

"We understand our communities and their needs and it can't just be [the] same old, same old," said Penina Trust chief executive Roine Lealaiauloto.

Source

• NewsHub
• Image: NZ Herald

Politicians from both sides attended the recent monthly Samoan Mass held in south Auckland.

Judith Collins who was present at the Mass said, "South Auckland can always make or break elections".

Labour Mangere MP Su'a William Sio was also there.

He says that while he has been coming to the Mass for 14 years, it was the first time he has seen National MPs in attendance.

David Cunliffe will be going to the next month's Mass.

Most people 3 News spoke at the recent Mass plan to vote red, but he reporter said the safe Labour seats may not be the fortresses they once were.

"There is a slight shift towards National and New Zealand First as well," says churchgoer Evelyn Stowers.

She still supports Labour, but says there's a "but": "They're not delivering the goods, simple as that, and leadership."

Others present also noted the Labour leadership as a cause for concern, and even his MPs think he needs to do more.

"David [Cunliffe] is aware of that, and as part of our strategy we're getting him out and about in the regions," says Sio.

Source

• TV3 News
• Image: Screen Shot TV3News

To support his contention McCoskrie sites the following facts:

• Canada: A court has ruled that marriage officials must marry homosexuals.
• USA: The army is threatening to court-martial Chaplains for ‘religious, conscience' objection to homosexuality. A New Jersey judge ruled against a Christian retreat house that refused to allow a same-sex civil union ceremony to be conducted on its premises, ruling the Constitution allows ‘some intrusion into religious freedom to balance other important societal goals. A proposed Kansas law would force churches to host same-sex ‘weddings,' receptions.
• UK: A Christian marriage conference was banned for their opposition to gay marriage. A Tory MP has called for churches to be banned from holding marriages if they refuse gay couples.
• The Netherlands: MPs voted for a change in the law to prevent civil servants refusing to conduct gay marriages.
• Sweden: Anyone challenging the homosexualist agenda in public in Sweden can be sent to prison, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that this does not constitute any violation of rights.
• Wales is moving against Catholic schools that are organizing students to protest a new government plan to back gay marriage in that country

Labour's MP for Mangere Su'a William Sio says he will be voting against the The definition of Marriage bill because there is widespread opposition within his electorate which has the highest population of Pacific Islanders in New Zealand, making up 58.8 per cent of voters.

Some ministers in Pacific churches were preaching against the bill and against Labour.

"This issue cuts deep into fundamental beliefs," he told Radio New Zealand. "It will divide the community."

"I feel somewhat betrayed by raising issues such as this when there are more prominent, more weightier issues such as jobs and income and putting food on the table and paying for the bills."

An online petition opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage has been signed by nearly 20,000 people in its first week.

Source

• Morning Report 8 August
• Scoop
• Stuff.co.nz
• New Zealand Herald
• Image: Google Images