N.Z. an 'isolated pocket of wealth’

Press, 7 September 1976, Page 16

N.Z. an 'isolated pocket of wealth’

It was time New Zealanders became aware that they could not survive in an isolated pocket of wealth. Mrs Shirley Allen said in Christchurch yesterday.

Mrs Allen, the new national executive officer for U.N.I.C.E.F. said that by geographical accident New Zealand was a food factory in a world that was largely hungry. And because New Zealanders had plenty of food they could not comprehend the sufferings of those who did not get enough to eat and could do practically nothing to change the circumstances of their lives. VULNERABLE

“By working with the United Nations and its ■ agencies, particularly U.N.1.C.E.F., the people in developing countries are given hope for the future and are helped to become selfsupporting,” Mrs Allen said. I “When I say this I am thinkpng particularly of the most ’vulnerable part of a community — the mothers and the i children.”

Shirley Allen, now of (Wellington, was in Christi church yesterday at the in[vitation of the regional [U.N.I.C.E.F. committee to take nart in the launching of i its 1976 greeting card campaign. After 18 years working at the London regional office of the United Nations Association, specialising in promoting and selling U.N.I.C.E.F. cards, calendars and diaries. | Mrs Allen says she has the (feeling that New Zealand is a very privileged part of the world. “At Christmas I find it heart-breaking to see the lover-indulgence we permit ourselves in New Zealand [when I think of the state of the hungry in so many deiveloping countries,” she said. U.N.I.C.E.F. was making .tremendous efforts to provide clean water as well as food to millions of people — “com- ‘ modifies we take for granted without thinking about those who do not have them.” “It : is time we became aware that we cannot survive in an isolated pocket of wealth,”

she said. “International poverty stares us in the face.” NO EXCUSE New Zealanders had no excuse now for not knowing what the problems were: they could no longer plead ignorance. And until the problems associated with poverty were firmly tackled the world could never become a peaceful and humane place in which to live.

“U.N.I.C.E.F. is part of the practical work of the United Nations helping to solve the problems that engulf us,” she said. “It is an excellent example of international cooperation.” Every dollar raised in New Zealand for U.N.I.C.E.F. by donations or by the sale of cards, calendars and diaries was spent in New Zealand on such commodities as vitamin

tablets, wool blankets, dairy products and cement piping for Asian and African countries, she said. U.N.I.C.E.F. helped others to help themselves. It was no “charity handout.” The United Nations Children’s Fund, as U.N.I.C.E.F. is often called, has one of the highest reputations in its particular field of welfare. U.N.I.C.E.F. in New Zealand, which is made up of regional committees, is fourteenth on the list of national contributors to the worldwide organisation. “The work in New Zealand is done by a dedicated and devoted band of volunteers, such as you have here in Christchurch,” Mrs Allen said.