40-hour ‘faministas’ have to go without planned last meal

A concert in The Square to kick off Palmerston North’s 40-Hour Famine today has been postponed.

A group of secondary students from Palmerston North Boys’ and Girls’ High were planning the pre-famine festivities between 5pm and 9pm to launch the annual fundraiser but a clash with the Manawatu¯ finals tonight of the Smokefreerockquest meant the concert has been moved to August.

‘‘We wanted the concert to be somewhere that people on the 40-Hour Famine could come together, enjoy some music and have some food before they started,’’ said Max Davis, year 11 at Boys’ High.

Supported by the Palmerston North City Council, the concert was to have featured the Boys’ High OK Chorale and the school’s stage band, as well as attendance by assorted food trucks so that famine participants could enjoy a last meal to music before the sponsored fast got under way at 8pm.

However, too many concert performers were tied up with the Smokefreerockquest at the Globe Theatre that night.

Regular famine participant, Emily Hunt from Girls’ High, said this year the World Vision event was raising money for refugees from south Sudan, displaced into northern Uganda refugee camps by the ongoing civil war, which began in 2013.

Postponing the concert was not going stop the fundraising fast, which ends at midday on Sunday.

‘‘More than 300,000 people are in refugee settlements and the money we raise is going towards setting up child-friendly zones in the camps,’’ Max said.