Supporting Ukraine as we fight against Covid at home
It’s been a big few weeks for our Ka¯ piti community, Aotearoa and the wider world.
It definitely isn’t lost on us, and we’re sure on you too, the current situation in Ukraine and our responsibility to do all that we can to show our condemnation of war and violence, and support Ukrainians both in Aotearoa and abroad.
We are becoming more deeply concerned by the day, seeing the latest reports of mounting injuries, casualties and widespread damage. Aotearoa New Zealand has repeated our call, alongside international partners, for Russia to cease military operations in Ukraine and immediately and permanently withdraw to prevent further loss of life. As of last week, Parliament has passed sanctions legislation in response to the war. As a Government, we are also putting in place fast-track measures to support Ukrainians to remain in New Zealand or to return here immediately. We have provided an initial NZ$2 million for humanitarian aid to help deliver essential assistance, with a focus on supporting health facilities and meeting basic needs such as provision of food and hygiene items.
While we are wrapping support around our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, we have seen our local iwi, marae and wider community step in to awhi one another through the ever changing Covid-19 context.
Atiawa ki Whakarongotai have embraced the opportunity to provide a mana whenua outreach service to the Ka¯ piti community within their rohe (Paeka¯ ka¯ riki to Peka Peka), delivered in partnership with Hora te Pai Health Service, called Manaaki Ka¯ piti. Rapid Antigen Tests are proving important at this stage in our response to the virus and can be requested, if you’re symptomatic or a household contact of a positive case, through the following website: https://requestrats.covid19.health.nz/. If rangatahi, our youth, have an urgent need to get a test, Ka¯ piti Youth Support have just received some more stock thanks to Manaaki Ka¯ piti.
In the Mana electorate, Pasifika and iwi ro¯ pu have been co-ordinating testing stations, Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) pickup locations and deliveries to schools and early childhood centres. With locals volunteering their time to help out, everyone has been chipping in across the Mana and O¯ taki electorates with a shared goal of keeping our wha¯ nau, friends and communities safe. We thank the teams for their mahi and agility.
For the most up to date information on testing locations and times, along with RAT pickup spots, head to both of our Facebook pages — Barbara Edmonds MP & Terisa Ngobi — MP for O¯ taki.
Moments of celebration this last week included International Women’s Day, which we marked on March 8. We attended events to tautoko the amazing work of wa¯ hine to #BreakTheBias and ensure gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow, the two key threads of this year’s honouring of International Women’s Day. A shout out to local Councillor Sophie Handford who was a fierce representative for Ka¯ piti, youth and women at the Zonta Wellington International Women’s Virtual Breakfast.