Poverty in New Zealand 'shocking'
CHRIS GARDNER
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A British debt counsellor invited to take part in a social justice panel discussion at the Parachute Christian Music Festival says he has seen an underbelly of poverty in New Zealand that is shocking.
John Kirkby, who founded Christians Against Poverty (CAP) in the UK 15 years ago which has expanded into Australia and New Zealand, said he was always careful not to label something "the worst".
"But there are things I have seen in Australia and New Zealand . . ." he said. "Sixty seven per cent of our clients can't feed their kids. One third of them have contemplated suicide. It was their level of poverty . . . this is the 21st century."
CAP runs free debt counselling services through churches in 34 New Zealand centres, run by 80 staff and 250 money coaches, including two in the Waikato. Both Raleigh Street Christian Centre in Cambridge and Waihi Baptist Church run CAP debt counselling services.
Kirkby, who founded the charity after losing his UK home in the early 1990s and ended up living in a bed sit, said New Zealand's level of poverty had surprised him , "and I am still working as a case worker.
"I have been shocked by what I have seen in your country. Children without shoes whose parents cannot find them breakfast. You have some massive, massive problems."
Kirkby is taking part in a panel discussion on poverty with Tim Costello, chief executive of Christian aid agency World Vision in Australia, and Darlene Zschech, former worship pastor of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, and member of British charity CompassionArt which sells art to raise cash for aid, at Parachute.
Kirkby is also delivering a seminar on the issue at Parachute.
He is hoping his appearance at Parachute will help raise awareness of the charity and lead to more CAP centres being established in New Zealand.
"We had been invited here. I arrived here. in New Zealand, four and a half years ago with four names and and a few thousand dollars," Kirkby said. "We started by going to Starbucks in Parnell and getting wifi."
Since then the charity has established the two debt counselling services in the Waikato. In Auckland it runs services at Northcote Baptist Church, LIFE Central, Hillside Community Church, Grace International, Greenlane Christian Centre, Elim East. LIFE South and Manukau City Baptist. And at Kamo Alive in Whangare, St Peters Presbyterian Church in Tauranga and Victory Christian Centre in Lower Hutt.
"I have been amazed by the warmth and generosity I have seen and I am used to seeing amazing things," Kirkby said.
So where does CAP get its money from?
"From individuals," Kirkby said. "We raise our money through the churches that we partner with. We've got thousands of financial supporters in New Zealand."
Part of that may be down to the fact that Kirkby is a man to put his money where his mouth is, or is that his feet?
In October he marked 15 years of CAP's founding by running 15 marathons, or 2400 km, over 15 days in the UK. Australia and New Zealand.
CAP15, as he called it, saw him running marathons in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Nottingham, London and Bradford. In Australia he ran in Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Newcastle and Sydney. In New Zealand he ran in Whangerei, Christchurch, Hawke's Bay, Waikato and Auckland.
CAP15 raised in excess of $300,000 in New Zealand and more than $2.5 million in all.
"I have been astonished by the generosity of New Zealand churches and Christians."
The service is run by paid staff, who are funded by donations to the charity, and volunteers, who are trained in local churches and Kirkby, who travels to Australia and New Zealand three times a year from the charity's's head office in Bradford, UK, hopes to establish a centre in every town and city over the next decade.
"We are really, really anxious to hear from a couple of your churches in Hamilton and the greater Waikato. We need people to work with us. We can't do it on our own. It will happen. We will be in Hamilton in the next 12 months. We have already had interest."
Poverty is not just theoretical for Kirkby.
"I left school at 15 with no qualifications and was dyslexic and became a door to door loan salesman."
A 13 year long career in the financial industry began.
"I sometimes wondered what I was doing in board meetings with my Cycling Proficiency test," he said.
"At 18 dad died and mum was put in to the mental health institute. I sought solace in things and was not the greatest husband or father I could have been . . . I lost everything and I ended up destitute in a bed sit in Bradford with two young children I could not feed."
It was up to Kirkby to get himself back on his feet and it was then that he turned to the church and became a Christian.
"I was the first of CAP's clients before CAP started. I got myself out of debt and organised things. Little did I know I was creating a system that would help others. In 1996 I set up in a small bedroom office and the rest is history."
CAP, which sees 20,000 people per year in the UK through 1980 debt centres, won the UK's Sunday Times' Best Small Company to Work For award in 2008 and 2009 having scooped similar awards from the Charity Times in 2006 and 2007.
www.capnz.org
- © Fairfax NZ News
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@Lil #59 quite right, I did not read right throungh that first paragraph. Allow me a criticism of your post now you have opened this 'can of worms'. Let's look at your writing comprehension
Your writing is lazy, if the internet helps with HEAPS of learning, perhaps it is time they instead used the library reference section. And writing of such, perhaps that is a problem with students today, the inability to research using just a smidge of effort. Good teachers allow for any work that NEEDS the internet to be completed over a period of time, where students can visit the local library and use the internet there. Or, use their lunchtimes and make use of the school internet facilities. Or are you of that lazy generation that expects everything to be handed to them on a digital plate. Just a thought.
As for cheap phones, they can last for years and years. Mine has been going for 7 so far. So thats $5000 I have saved over that time in not having an $80 monthly phone package, and only spending $20 per month.
Its all talk and useless unverified stats.
For goodness sake, FIND US some people that are in poverty and who dont smoke, drink alchohol, eat takeaways, have mobile phones or TV/Computers or a car etc, who still cant afford to give their kids breakfast. See how many people like this you can find and publicise them.
If you find any, I bet that you get lots of people willing to donate to them and assist them. Its the feral losers described in other comments here that people dont want to support.
Matt -54 Minimumwage for a full time worker is $520, then add on working for families. That is for one parent, could the mum not get back to work to, at least part time in the evening? They have their priorities wrong. $34 for food per week but $150 per week on power and $80 per week Internet and phone. They need to stop wasting power, is it their giant flat screen tv using up their power bill? They don't need the Internet, most libraries have access if necessary for looking for work at a minimum cost and get a prepay phone for if people need to contact you or for you to use in an emergency. Cut the phone/Internet down to $5 per week, and you have an extra $60 for food, cut back on power you have even more.Mum goes to work and then you can afford to have some luxuaries. Options that someone from a 3rd world country in actual poverty doesn't have. #56 is right, most of us would be in poverty compared to the rich and famous, people need to try and better themselves and make the most of their situation.
Sky is a good sign of being poor, sky tv is the staple installtion of most on benfits,
Poverty in New Zealand is highlighted by John Key tring to get easy access to residency for New Zealanders living in Australia so they can access the benefit system. New Zealand now exports its poverty problem.
Most of you are living here by luck alone, once you're on the scrap heap your government expects you to leave. The only plan they have is selling off the country to make life easier for the silver spooners who own most of it and who treat like a personal playground.
Shocking is the right word. It's shocking that you can class anyone in a country with welfare as in 'poverty'. Below is the United Nations defination of poverty....
"Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation."
So therefore no one in NZ is in poverty. I've seen Maori land. Nothing but weeds and grass. Where's the gardens growing food? Where are the trees for profit? Where are the grazing animals for food?
Poverty is not correct. The correct term in NZ is neglect and not as much by the individual as any agency.
Can we also have the following stats please:
- what % are smokers - what % have Sky TV
the list goes on....
@ Bob Dobalina #55: Your reading comprehension could do with improvement. Mat budgeted $80 per month for phone/internet, not per week. It is true that a text plan on a prepay mobile would be cheaper, but you'd have to be able to afford the mobile in the first place - cheap ones don't always last very long.
$80 is a standard landline/internet plan per month. If you have kids at school, the internet will help them heaps with their learning - or do you not think kids' education is a necessity? Just a thought.
Just to be clear what a mess #31, I don't advocate forced sterilisation. What I'm sick of is poverty and child abuse being an issue that has been kicked around by every Government for the last decade with enquiry after enquiry and green papers having been written by various sub-committees without any progress. It's well past time for hard decisions. Some ideas would be; 1. Offer sterilisations as mentioned earlier, government funded and also as part of the justice process; 2. Identify electricity as an 'essential service' and prevent price rises without full justification for it and drop the GST on the tax on petrol, 3. Gym/sports club participation subscriptions to be tax deductible, the theory being those keeping themselves fitter and healthier are less likely to be a drain on the public health system. 4. Minimum hourly rate rise to help those at the bottom. Of course there are other ideas and there would be a higher health and welfare expenditure initially but a longer term outlook has to be adhered to across the political spectrum ultimately leading to less welfare,health and corrections spending.
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As I work for the organisation that many of you have slagged off, let me enlighten you a little about how we do things for our clients: 1. If the client wants to sign up, they have to take the first step and they have to call us. That empowers them to make the first move. 2. We get a portion of their benefit or wages redirected into us which we use to pay their rent, utlities and debts in line with our allowances. So for a family of four, we might allow $120 a month for power. If they use more than that, they pay the difference. Same for phone etc. 3. We create a comprehensive budget that is unique to each family. It might include Sky, it might not - it depends on the situation. But I can tell you that we will recommend Sky be cut off if it means the family is going without food. 4. We have awful lot of clients who aren't beneficiaries, just everyday NZers fallen on hard times with the loss of a job, medical issues etc. Poverty is relative.
Such slagging off and beneficiary-bashing as I have seen on here saddens me. Where is our compassion for people who are generally trying to make ends meet?
My husband and I are currently living on one income as he's gone back to study. The "guaranteed" placements haven't eventuated but because of his course load, he can't work full time. Our rent is 60% of my after-tax income. That leaves me $200 a week to pay for food, power, water, phone, internet (needed for study), car insurance, contents insurance, WOF, rego, medical bills, petrol and put a wee bit aside for Christmas each year. Luckily we have no debt: we can't afford any!