Exercise your NO muscle today!

Read some appalling statistics today - in Northland, our region, police attend an average of 17 domestic calls a day.  That is 17 too many!  Especially when you consider over 75% of domestic violence incidents are not reported to police.  So the actual numbers are far far worse.


Each year an average of 27 men, women and children are killed due to family violence.  That is 27 too many.

One of the common myths about domestic violence is ‘Why doesn’t she just leave?’.  The important thing to remember is that no-one asks to be abused .  The responsibility lies firmly with the abuser to stop their behaviour.  

Family violence is a pattern of physical, sexual, emotional or financial violence that leaves the victim intimidated, hurt and fearful for their life, and the lives of their family. Learn more about this pattern of power and control, and the types of abuse.


Domestic violence is not limited to any demographic. It happens in rural and urban areas, within all age, religious and ethnic groups, and across all socio-economic groups. It can happen between people who are married, in de facto relationships or just dating. Domestic violence happens in same sex relationships, too.
 
The Domestic Violence Act 1995 legally protects anyone in a domestic relationship from violence: married couples; unmarried couples; gay and lesbian couples; children; family; anyone in a close relationship; and flatmates and

others who may share accommodation from violence. 


If the victim cannot stand up for themselves it is those in the community around them to open our eyes and not stand by and allow it to happen.  We need to say it's not okay.  

So exercise your NO muscle when you see violence in our society, as the change starts with all of us saying it's not okay!



Read more at Northern Advocate article.
For statistics look at Family Violence statistics
For support or advice see http://areyouok.org.nz/
Other links:  MASSIVE, Womens Refuge NZ, Justice Dept, Legislation

Be a Hero!

I know it has been said before ... ST JOHN need more volunteers for the ambulances.

The team we have in Kaiwaka and Maungaturoto are amazing.  They give up so much of their time already, like alot of rural volunteers.  Yesterday a loved one needed in ambulance in Waipu, and as there was no-one available nearby the ambulance had to come up from Maungaturoto which from the original call was 1 hour!!!

Not the ambos fault, just a symptom of the fact there are not enough people giving their time to be available to help others.  So even if you can do only a shift a week it would be better than making someone who couldn't wait have to miss out on treatment.  The more volunteers the more lives that can literally be saved.

So if you have been thinking about it don't think any more.

Just do it - volunteer for St John and be a hero in your community.

The future is electric!

Yesterday morning Kaiwaka got a glimpse of the future when over 15 electric cars converged at the newly opened Kaiwaka charging station.

 A large group of the community came along for the ribbon cutting.  Of course a huge thanks for the team from Kaiwaka Primary for the delicious food!

And it wasn't just the children that were excited to see the gorgeous new electric cars.  The adults were just as keen to go for a ride in one of the cars to get a feel for what driving in an electric car would be like.

In fact there is still time to get a 'feel' of the electric cars.

Go for a free ride in an electric car and get all your questions answered over the next few days.

Check out a car and see what it's all about:

Saturday 31/10 - 12pm-2pm
Sunday 1/11 - 12pm-2pm
Monday 2/11 - 12pm-2pm

For more information or appointments contact volunteer Andre van den Berg on #0210585279.

So get on down to Jaques and see what the future looks like!

For more information visit Charge.net.nz.

Loving Kaiwaka - the town, the people, the community

It has been sometime since I took to writing on here, so felt it was time to again revisit and promote our wonderful town.

Recently on the Kaiwaka community Facebook page a person who was leaving the area posted a message saying how much they disliked the community.  Of course there was an immediate and quite hostile response from a number of loyal Kaiwaka people.

The sad thing about this is the person who posted the farewell message never got to see the responses as they had already removed themselves from the group.  This made me sad for a couple of reasons.  The person leaving Kaiwaka obviously didn't become part of the community enough to feel that they belonged here and were valued.  And secondly they weren't honest enough to say 'hey this is not the right fit for me I will move on in peace'.

A good thing that has come out of all this is the positivity thread that I started in the Kaiwaka community Facebook page.  There have been some amazing comments.  Some wonderful reasons why Kaiwaka is so great.  Here are just some of the contributions:

• Its just a awesome place. Bianca and her staff are people focused, Sean, the young panel beater. I acknowledge all those self employed businesses that rely on our daily custom to feed their families and pay overheads. Kia kaha Kaiwaka.
•  I love the people. We have so many people in Kaiwaka with differing views yet we all seem to except and in brace this. In times of trouble we all join together and help.
•  Its just a awesome place. Bianca and her staff are people focused, Sean, the young panel beater. I acknowledge all those self employed businesses that rely on our daily custom to feed their families and pay overheads. Kia kaha Kaiwaka.
•  I luv the commitment from all the amazing people who give their time and energy to provide activities for our young people. There is always so much going on for them. A community invested in good things for young people are putting gold into the bank for the whole of the country . Thrilled to be part of this town
• The pies, the people, the fishing...shhh, the weather, the pies, ooh ooh the long doughnuts at Bakery, and the pies..Kiawaka is our town.
• One of the best things in Kaiwaka for me is Jaques Four Square - not just because it's a really well stocked supermarket but also because Paula & Greg are such strong community people: they sponsor local events, allow the shop to be a drop-off point for lots of things, keep Bugles/Avon/courier parcels etc there, keep track of keys to all the community halls, are the collection point for the food bank, allow groups to fundraise outside the shop - and the list goes on!
• Many of my beautiful whanau and dear friends live in Kaiwaka...and is the home town of my Marae..Te Poung
• Pukekararo, The siren, trees, lights, yummy pies and doughnuts, cones on trees, play centre, school, Oneriri Road, home, could go on and on......
• That it is home no matter where you go k town is always here the people and just the feeling of home
• The people; the community; the way the land lies in folds holding dreams like the palm of your hands hold hopes.
•  Mmmmm Doughnuts,,,,,,,,,n Pies, n Ferro cement, n Lights n Sea food , Platter's, Food cart, n the people.." Strangers can be friends you haven't met yet..".

Thank you Kaiwaka for being such a welcoming community.  If you have another reason why Kaiwaka is amazing feel free to add it.

Step Forward - Show You Care

At Kaiwaka Cares we believe our community is a safe, friendly and discrimination free for everyone who chooses to live here. 

In the 2014 Quality of Life Survey people were asked about their feelings about where they live and how they feel.  Almost half of respondents felt a sense of community where they live.  They felt that in their community people cared and supported each other.   40% of these people felt that people might not feel a sense of community because members of their community did not regularly talk to each other.

Whilst it may be nice to think that Kaiwaka is an exception, there are still members of our community who are alone. One of the other statistics that came out of the survey is that 32% of people had experienced loneliness in the past year.

This is part of the reason for the drop-in centre coming into being.  it provides a space for members of our community to get to know each other and improve the sense of community for those who might not be feeling it.

A reason that people might feel not part of the community is if they are challenged by mental illness.  it is a sad fact that one in five people in New Zealand will experience some form of mental illness in 2015.  This includes anxiety, depression as well as bipolar and other disorders.

One of the biggest challenges for someone challenged by mental illness is discrimination.  The Step Forward campaign over the next month is aiming to bring awareness to mental illness and to try and end some of the discrimination surrounding it.  Lets break down the barriers and Step Forward as a community to socially include those who may be struggling.

For more information visit Step Forward or Like Minds.

We are Open!

Yes the community drop-in centre had a wonderful opening on Monday.  It was a great first day with many members of the community and supporting services attending.

A special thanks to Rau for attending to bless our space to make it ready to care for the community.

Huge thanks to the Kaiwaka Cares committee who have worked tirelessly to get this up and running.  In case you are not aware they are:  Rhona Vickoce, Helen Marsh, Scott Dalziell, Iris Kelly, Sarah Cristini, Glo Treadway and Janine Boult.  Also many thanks to the many members of the community who have contributed items to make the drop-in centre more homely so that the people of Kaiwaka have somewhere to come together and enjoy each other's company.

Of course none of this would have been able to happen without the tremendous support and encouragement from Yvonne Brown.  Yvonne is the amazing woman that runs Kate's Place and we are so happy to be working alongside her and all that she does for the community of Kaiwaka.

The drop-in centre will be open every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 2pm.  Feel free to pop into our cosy space, have a cuppa, read a book or help out with the puzzle.

Next week we will be adding a computer to the room.  This will be available for the community to use to access the internet.  We do ask for a small koha for using this to enable us to provide this for the people of Kaiwaka.

If you wish to book the space to use for your group outside of our opening times please contact us at caring4kaiwaka@gmail.com.

Community Social Space - Drop-In Centre Opening!

The elves have been busy getting the drop-in centre ready to open.  It has been wonderful the support from the community that we have been able to get things ready for opening.

We can't wait to show you the space. Below is a sneak preview of the room.  It's scrubbed up really well and I'm looking forward to it being put to good use!

The grand opening is on Monday 20 July 2015 at 10am.  If you can't make it down to see us on Monday don't worry you won't miss out.  The centre will be open every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 2pm.

Look forward to seeing you soon!