Providing school lunches is about the children - not the parents. Photo / NZME
Providing school lunches is about the children - not the parents. Photo / NZME
OPINION
The terrible news of yet another baby's death in New Zealand broke on Sunday.
A woman has been charged with murder, however no matter what the outcome is for that person, the outcome for the baby will never change. They are gone forever.
Never will they get to goto school, hang out with friends, swim in the ocean, drive a car, fall in love — things most of us take for granted and things that everyone should get the chance to experience.
It made me stop and think about all the people locked down in houses with people who really don't care about them.
People who hit them, yell at them, don't provide the basic necessities of life, and it made me sad.
Sad because unless these people ask for help no one can do anything for them.
As Julie Hart from Family VIP Services Hawke's Bay said in a story in this paper on Monday, victims of domestic violence find it difficult to get out of the house during lockdown.
She said they couldn't use the usual excuses for leaving the house such as shopping.
Her advice was to just leave. Get out and get help.
She also said when lockdown ended last year they had a flood of requests for help and had remained busy ever since.
She hoped women would not put up with abuse until the lockdown was over.
I hope they don't either. Leaving is easier said than done though, however the consequences of staying in an abusive relationship could be deadly.
Then there are the all the children out there who before lockdown relied on a provided school lunch — for some of them it's the only meal they can rely on. Imagine that.
Yes, I hear all the people saying "where are the parents" and "it's not up to the Government to feed them".
Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.
Providing school lunches is about the children - not the parents. It's not the children's fault their parents either can't be bothered to feed them or can't afford to.
I suspect that most of the time it's the latter. Also the benefits for society as a whole are enormous.
Instead of sitting in the classroom thinking about nothing except how hungry they are, the kids can actually pay attention to what's going on and learn.
Some families still can't afford to put three decent meals on the table even when both parents are working. That certainly doesn't make them bad parents. Many of them are most probably going without themselves so their children can eat.
The price of food in our country really is shocking, especially when it comes to meat.
Stocking up on toilet paper is the least of these families' worries. Most of them are probably just hoping there's some bread left on the shelves.
Today we go into level 3 lockdown which I have heard described as level 4 with takeaways.
Maybe for some but not for all.
Here's hoping we only stay in level 3 for a week so the school gates open again.
- Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.
