I realise this problem is not limited to this country.

One of this morning’s news articles…

Desperate kids scavenging for food – GP

Published: 6:41AM Friday May 11, 2012 Source: Fairfax

Stories of children scavenging through pig slops and downing entire bottles of antibiotics out of hunger are an “embarrassment to the country” says a Kaitaia GP.

Doctor Lance O’Sullivan said he had been doing what he could to fight the effects of child-poverty in his region but it sometimes felt like an uphill battle.  “I’d like to say they were just stories, but they are both cases that have been brought to my attention and one I actually attended on.”  O’Sullivan said for things to change, “people actually needed to hear about this”.

He said he was recently told by the concerned owner of a local garage that children were ferreting through a staff-room pig bucket of scraps looking for food, and about six months ago treated a young child who drank an entire bottle of antibiotics because they were hungry.  The family was so poor they were unable to pay for the petrol to get the child to the doctor, so O’Sullivan made a free-of-charge house-call.

“When I got there and opened their fridge to look at the medication it was immediately clear why the child did it. There was nothing there apart from some milk, a little bit of butter and about five or six full bottles of medication.”

O’Sullivan said an additional $12 million the government was funding toward the prevention of rheumatic fever was a welcome move, but that was only one symptom of the poverty children were facing.  “If children are that deprived of food it’s going to severely affect their ability to function, their ability to learn, which will have a downturn affect on their ability to gain employment further down the line.

Full Story;  click here.

Maybe our government’s ministers could spare a little of their wealth as a show of solidarity?  I hear some individuals in the government have a net wealth of around $50 million…

Related articles;

• Shock look at NZ’s child poverty;  21st Nov 2011;  Click here
• Children’s Commissioner;  Click here
• The Children’s Social Health Monitor;  Click here (somewhat technical)

Those helping to deal with the problem;

• Child Poverty Action Group:  www.cpag.org.nz (donate here)

More to be added later…

The bottom of the North Island and a good chunk of the South Island of New Zealand, as seen from space.  I can almost see my house!  In between the two islands is the Cook Strait.  Been across this on the ferry a number of times, loved the trip, I’m sure one day I’ll experience it again.  Still remember doing the “time warp” on the top deck when I was about 19

Do we even need zoos?  I guess, decades ago, they may have had their place, to a point, even though I am sure the conditions back then were a lot worse for the animals than they are nowadays.  When there was very little known about animals, they may have had their place, but I feel in this day and age, this has changed.

There are so many quite simply outstanding documentaries available which give an incredible insight into our natural kingdom.  For native species, yes, I feel there may be value in being able to view these species in their country of origin, in an environment which is as close to their natural setting as possible.  However the idea that caging up animals miles away from where they feel at home, does not sit right with me.

For some reason, it is seen as a service to “lock up” animals purely for our visual pleasure.  For many animals they have known no other way, and could never be reintroduced into their natural environment, however I feel the chain has to stop somewhere.  Allow the medium of television to educate, to inform, and to promote discussion, and to encourage others to travel to see wildlife in their natural setting.

It has been over ten years since I visited a zoo, and even then I felt I was “guided” to do so, and it allowed me to gain a new appreciation of the injustice these special ones have to suffer.  This is only how I feel, but I can only assume this is also a feeling shared amongst those who find themselves being the objects of our attention.

I may not be qualified to make such statements, but these are simply my feelings and thoughts as I offer them here. These are not meant to be rules or regulations.  I hope this helps to promote thought, reflection and discussion amongst others.

Much love,

Jason

Good stuff from the Phoenix, won 3-2 over Sydney, awesome game loads of ups and downs but the boys came through in the end.  So proud to be a Wellingtonian.

Poor old Breakers have a tough time ahead of them flying to Oz to play Townsville next week, after losing their game at Vector Arena in Auckland.  Mind you, this was the same scenario from last year, when the B’s lost their first game at home, then went on to win the next two.

Last but not least the Highlanders defeated the Rebels in convincing fashion, not even conceding a try putting on 43 points to the Rebels 12.  The only problem with all this was everything was basically on at once, so watched the basketball for 20 mins, then the Phoenix got full attention, and the Highlanders had to settled for the delayed broadcast.

Looking forward to tonight!

My heartfelt thoughts and love go out to those precious souls who lost their lives in the hot air balloon incident today in Carterton, Wairarapa, New Zealand.

May their Spirits rise to the Heavens, and their souls find peace with God.  May their families cherish their memories, and recognise that their loved ones are Home where they will never suffer again, now, or in the future.

Jason.

Kind of following on from the theme of my previous post (on economics), this one is my thoughts on everything having to be bigger, to be better.

In the old days, now I’m taking ancient days, everyone lived in small communities and did their best to provide for themselves.  In this modern era, everything seems to come from somewhere else, and what does come from here at home, costs three times as much.  What is the price to pay for self sufficiency?

No wonder then there is such a push to get everything from elsewhere, while little or no thought is given to the place of origin where people live on next to nothing, work 16 hour days and have little or nothing to show for it at the end of their week, let alone at the end of their life.

Take an example.  Europe, a global village of sorts.  Now I’m not against the European Union as such, the idea of one passport seems ideal, but the idea of a shared currency seemed strange to me at the time it happened, and now everything seems to be crumbling.  Not sure how much of this had to do with the shared currency, I really am not knowledgeable enough on these matters to know.  All I know is that when the currency came about (the Euro), it just didn’t ring true to me.  So much effort, for such a risk.  An example of getting bigger definitely not getting better, IMHO.

I have an example where I live, where there are two organisations who work on their own providing a service to two entirely different groups of people (both geographically, and in personal circumstances).

The funding agency that keeps them going wants them to merge, so it’s easier for them and means they meet an new funding threshold, which they have determined.  The result is months and months of work for the two organisations, meetings, discussions, planning and eventually (still ongoing at this stage) a whole new organisation to please a few people who only want to serve their own agenda and save a few days effort for them.  The end result?  Less productivity, more bureaucracy, more complexity and the like.  Anyway, that’s how I see it looking in from the outside.

I dunno.  I reckon global growth is good, but sometimes it needs to be tempered with a bit of commonsense and thought for other people.  If the economy collapses, no-one is able to source anything they need, as it is all offshore.  End result?  Back to being villages, except this time with a diminished ability to support themselves.

Anyway, just my thoughts

Things are starting to move more quickly now.  I’m looking forward to the future.  It’s nice to know I have support for what lies ahead.