Cashless tourists to aid charity
A German tourist and her Australian partner trying to travel New Zealand without spending any money say they will help charitable causes in Wellington after a backlash to their way of living.
Anna Karg and Enoch Orious issued a statement on their Facebook page after receiving ‘‘nasty comments’’ following a story about their travel style, which eschews money in favour of trading, dumpster-diving and charity.
That included eating once at Wellington’s Sisters of Compassion soup kitchen, which appeared to be a sore point for many readers.
After the story they said they had since volunteered at The Free Store in central Wellington, and hoped to involve themselves with more charity organisations.
One commenter was outraged by their taking of food from ‘‘the impoverished homeless of NZ’’.
‘‘You should be giving to these charities and expect nothing in return.’’
Another wrote: ‘‘I think that if you have the money to travel then you must budget to pay for stuff along the way, soup kitchens are for New Zealanders who can’t travel and who are hungry.’’
The couple pointed out that ‘‘Enoch is born in Australia and has been living here for most of his life. He has been working in NZ for over 10 years and Anna has been spending several thousand euro when she was in NZ for the first time a couple of years ago.
‘‘Also, we both started volunteering at the free store today and are about to get involved in even more charity work in Wellington and hopefully many other places in NZ as well.’’
Karen Holland, Compassion Soup Kitchen manager, said it wasn’t for her to judge how the couple lived their lives.
The charity’s kaupapa was based around offering hospitality to whoever needed their help and to turn nobody away, she said.
But she was disappointed by the division the travellers’ actions had caused within the community.
Personally, one reason is because so many Wellingtonians have a sense of ownership around the soup kitchen; they donate, they give their time.
‘‘And it makes them angry, and it hurts them to think that someone would disrespect that. They see it as disrespect for the sisters and the work of Compassion when there are so many people genuine in need.’’
Karg and Orious responded to people who disagreed with their way of living.
‘‘Open your eyes and see that we are not the reason for your suffering or your hurting. We are all just puppets in this game. Your taxes get taken from you if you want it or not and distributed to many places. We both have been working before, we both have been part of it. If you really want to be angry at somebody, don’t blame us – blame the system.’’
Orious yesterday told Stuff the couple were tired of media attention and said the issue had been ‘‘blown way out of proportion’’.
He said the couple were busy doing charity work around Wellington, including for a church.
When questioned about criticism levelled at the pair and about his residential status, Orious said only that the ‘‘truth would come out’’.
Immigration New Zealand area manager Marcelle Foley said Working Holiday visa holders were allowed to work while in the country, but it could not be the primary purpose of their travel.
Work means any activity undertaken for gain or reward and includes any payment or benefit that can be valued in terms of money, such as board and lodging, goods and services.
Begging or soliciting donations could also be considered to be an activity undertaken for gain or reward, Foley said.
‘‘Holders of visitor visas can holiday and sightsee, visit family and friends and enjoy New Zealand as a visitor.
‘‘Undertaking work while on this visa would mean the applicant is in breach of their visa conditions, which could result in the visa being cancelled and the applicant becoming liable for deportation.’’