Fathia, Mohammed and Kate – world refugee day

Fathia, Mohammed, Kate cropped 3 2015-06-06

Fathia escaped the war in Yemen with her two babies, to then spend 12 years as a refugee family in Ethiopia waiting for a new country. She had never heard of new Zealand but after requesting a “peace country” she and her family arrived in Wellington about 10 years ago. To celebrate we will have a chat with Fathia, her son Mohammed and Kate Miller, their volunteer support person about their experience of settling into Wellington. The answers are not what I thought and every kiwi needs to hear this.

“Wellington is one of five main centers that accepts refugees and currently we take twice our National share” Murdoch Willliams

http://multiculturalnz.org.nz/World+Refugee+Day+2015+in+New+Zealand

if you think we could take more refugees into New Zeaand.http://www.doingourbit.co.nz/

To meet more Refugees in New Zealand https://www.redcross.org.nz/what-we-do/in-new-zealand/refugee-services/get-to-know-me/

Donna Redmond and Casey James – on the front line for youth

IMG_0197Wellington’s amazing food rescuer’s are holding their very important annual fundraiser . So to enthuse us to start cooking up a storm, in this interview we talk to one of the 26 community groups that regularly receives surplus food from Kaibosh; the .

Donna Redmond and Casey James of the BGI talk to us about the work they do for our youth, how the Kaibosh food gets used and the reality of being on the front line for families.

For more info on how to get involved with fundraising  for Kaibosh http://www.kaibosh.org.nz/make-a-meal-in-may/

Another small fact about the Boys and Girls Institute, they have 137 volunteers, who put in 14,144 hours- which is nearly 7 years of 40 hour weeks.

Catherine Hill, Deirdre Marshall, David Laing, Michelle Ducat – Car Free Families

Car free familiesHave you ever wondered how you’d cope if you didn’t own a car? Me too! So in this interview we found four Wellington and Lower Hutt families who, by choice, are car free or nearly car free.

They talk about why, the challenges, tips, and some unexpected benefits of not owning or using their cars.

Many thanks to those who contributed to this interview.

Mark Antony Steelsmith – black dog failure

Mark Relaxed

This is Mark Antony Steelsmith, he is mostly an animation artist. He also has a family, a post grad diploma in fine arts, depression and an exhibition called Black Dog Failure on at  until Feb 7th. In this interview we talk about all of these things.

Mark also is holding an animation workshop this Saturday 7th at Toi Poneke from 10 – 2pm ( possibly full but please contact the gallery.)

Johanna and Laurie Sanders – here to stay

The Village Market

Father and daughter team, Laurie and Johanna Sanders, have a pretty big vision for the out in Lower Hutt. Laurie, the self appointed “Artisan Godfather”, insists that the market is the future, as all businesses start small and the Village Market will enable more of this to happen. Many of our unique Wellington businesses started in a market so I am inclined to agree, but in this interview I found Laurie is so convinced, he is going to leave this as his legacy for the Hutt community. The Village Market is here to stay.

The Sew Good Cooperative Mums – a common unity

SewGood_CUP_20141128_6040These are the Mum’s from The Sew Good Cooperative at Epuni School in Lower Hutt. Of all the stories has done, this one is possibly the most powerful, Why? Because their story is a community led response to the economic and social pressures facing a huge percentage of our country. These women are doing it for themselves.

After founder Julia Milne has taken a few awards this year as the Overall Winner at the Wellington Airport Community Awards and the Sustainable Champion at the NZI Sustainable Business Awards for her work and vision on the project, we thought we’d go and have a chat with the Mums to see what the best things about the year were for them…..and it wasn’t what we thought.

If you think these women were doing an awesome thing please vote here as they are in the running for a grant that will really help their Koha Kitchen come to life.Closes Dec 11 so please do it today. It takes two clicks.

http://mcfgrantsvoting.com.au/

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Thanks to

 

Jim Scott and Max-A-Million – it’s a family affair

Jim+Max

After creating an institution with their Friday Night Drive show on , DJ’s Jim Scott and Max-A-Million celebrated their last show after 5 years.

No big deal perhaps – except they are a father and son duo. In fact Max was practically bought up around the studio as Jim has been contributing to the Radio Active air waves for around 30 years.

I managed to grab this interview with them before Max left for overseas, in which they reflect on what it was like to be a father and son team, their family love of music and the funny things about their time on air together.

Check out the song at the end of the interview. It was the last song Jim played on their last show, Family Affair by Mary J. Blige