Collection: Blog

Yesterday, a group of people came together to celebrate being Aunties. Not Aunties in the traditional sense. These people care about women and children they have never met. I hope to change that somewhat. That having been said it's largely a relationship that appears to have one side.I can assure you that it is not.  The women that are the benefactors of  your graciousness and kindness are appreciative beyond words. Every thing, every gestures, builds them up. Kris and...

When I published the other womens' stories, stories in my own voice, M was really disappointed not to have had the opportunity and said she would like to write something for you all to read. To impress upon you why the Refuge is so important, and to give voice to those you are all helping. She wrote it a while ago, and I only just read it this morning. Sitting next to her, at the dining table at the Refuge,...

It occurs to me that many of you are helping the women at the Refuge but you don't really know much about who you're helping. And the cast of characters changes with some regularity. So I thought I'd tell you a bit about some of the women in Refuge at the moment. I have their full permission (the phone was passed around to each one).Four of the mothers originally gave permission for me to share some of their story,...

This morning in the Herald was an article which was, the way I read it, basically Bill English saying: Hey, these parents are irresponsible jerks, so we’re quite prepared to take care of their kids, since they won’t. Oh no, hang on, that is what he is actually saying here.  “There’s no doubt that there are kids in homes where there is not a strong sense of responsibility. It’s the obligation of the rest of us to do something about...