All our kids ought to get a fair go
Many youngsters are going cold and hungry this winter. It’s time that changed
We’d like to think that all New Zealanders get the same start in life. First there’s kindergarten, then there’s primary, intermediate and high school education. It’s free, for the most part, for those who go through the public schooling system.
But there’s more to schooling than kids in a classroom and there’s more to a childhood than simply turning up to school Monday to Friday.
Many of the Kiwi kids who fill the thousands of classrooms across the country live in warm, dry households with a room, and a bed, to call their own. Many others do not.
Many of the Kiwi kids who walk the corridors at schools around the country do so warm, with adequate clothing and footwear.
Many others do not.
Many of the Kiwi kids who play games and sports with their friends at lunchtime do so with full bellies. Many others do not.
Many of the Kiwi kids who fill the thousands of classrooms across the country visit a doctor when they fall ill. Many others do not.
I know, from the flood of requests I receive from desperate families each and every week, that all Kiwi kids, quite simply, do not get the same start in life.
I also know that children in the most disadvantaged communities are nearly three times more likely to end up in hospital for common respiratory and infectious conditions associated with poverty.
These children are also three times more likely to die in childhood or adolescence than those living in the least deprived areas.
And winter is the harshest time of all. If you had to choose between putting food on the table for your children or buying them a warm jacket — which would you choose?
If you had to choose between paying the rent or turning on the heater — which would you choose?
When household budgets are already stretched, children go hungry, they spend their days and nights cold, they are more likely to get sick and so the cycle goes.
From the thousands of families we assist right across the country we know that every situation is different, yet the basic needs that aren’t being met remain the same.
We have parents who tell us their entire family has had to go days, sometimes weeks, without hot water because they have run out of gas and they cannot afford a refill.
We have parents who tell us the whole family snuggles up together in one room, each and every night, because their house is freezing and they cannot afford to run any heating.
We have parents who tell us they share a bed with their kids because they simply cannot afford to purchase any more bedding — though many of these families consider this a blessing come winter because it is simply too cold in their homes to do anything but cosy up together for warmth.
We have parents who tell us they have hung up old blankets, or bubble wrap, in front of the windows in their homes because they do not have any curtains and it’s a simple fix to keep out a little bit of the cold and damp air.
We have parents who tell us their children sleep together on couches, mattresses, in chairs or even directly on the floor because that is all they have available.
We also hear from adults who grew up
SHow to help
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in poverty, and the impact it has on them to this day.
Just recently, I was talking to a friend who told me the shame they still feel, some 20 years later, after having to repeatedly turn up to school on mufti day in a uniform because they did not have any other clothes.
Through no fault of their own, the impact of poverty on children is longlasting but right now, together, we can make a difference.
More than 400 New Zealand children are on our emergency waiting list for vital winter essentials, with more requests arriving every week.
These children are going without the most basic of essentials, items that many of us take for granted.
Every single one of these 400 Kiwi kids is in desperate need of assistance, right now.
Some might be in and out of hospital with respiratory illnesses because they live in a cold and damp home, some might be spending their days shivering from the cold because their shoes have holes in them and they don’t have warm or rainproof clothing to wear.
Others might be tired, day in and day out, because they don’t have a bed or warm bedding of their own, so they toss and turn every night, instead of sleeping.
Others are going hungry because they are missing out on meals, not to mention nutritious foods. Many are facing all of these challenges.
And these are only the children we know about. With 135,000 Kiwi kids living in material hardship at this very moment, there is simply no other choice to but to act now.
Together, we can tackle what is New Zealand’s silent epidemic and save vulnerable children from silently shivering through another harsh winter.
Your help will make a real, tangible difference for our most vulnerable children, as it will allow us to provide proper beds, warm bedding, winter clothes and help to pay for medical costs over the worst winter months.
Together, we can, and will, make a difference.
These children are going without the most basic of essentials . . . Every single one of these Kiwi kids is in desperate need.