I cant say the children in our community are going to school hungry. If they are, then there must be bigger problems elsewhere within the whanau unit. I know for a fact, and based on my experience as a teacher having taught at both our local kura, teachers have been making it their business for years to ensure that our tamariki are not coming to school hungry. I remember posting a korero a while back about how Aunty QP and Aunty Alice provided the best hot breakfasts for our kids: hot milo, toast, spaghetti/baked beans, even porridge sometimes for our kids. Why? Because they loved our tamariki so much, and because during the winter it was cold, so they just fed them!!! I do sympathize and understand that there are genuine whanau who struggle to feed their kids, but I know at home here, that is not the case. We can compensate from our moana, our mara kai and theres always the neighbours and whanau who have a spare loaf of bread.....I spent a few years teaching at home and in that time I bore witness to children who were not only coming to school with packed lunches, but they also had a big 20 dollars to spend at the takeaways/tuckshop/shop. Hungry??/....I think not. Some of our kids are just too spoilt and realistically, overfed. They would not even know what it means to be hungry. I also know that right to this day, both our kura provide cereal breakfasts, fruit, milk, snack bars and whatever else is available. There would be about 3-4 kids who actually take the offer up. Hungry??? I think not........We just need to look at the scrap bins at school and look at the amount of food that is wasted. I nearly cried watching Campbell LIve tonight. I CHALLENGE WHANAU AND FRIENDS TO TAKE UP THE 10 DOLLAR FEED THE NEED CHALLENGE for those tamariki in our country who are going to school hungry, and who are not so fortunate as ours!!!!!......Anyone got the paoro to do that around here? (All you need is a yellow PaknSave plastic bag, fill it up to the value of 10 bucks worth of kai: spag, biscuits, sandwich fillings....etc) and ask at the PaknSave counter where the donation can be left.......I DARE YOU ALL....
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 09:20:35 +0000