White Ribbon Newsletter for August 2020
Kia ora. Firstly, we just wanted to say a big thank you to all those who took the time to give us feedback on the two campaign concepts that we sent out. The overwhelming favourite was the Challenge the #Outdated concept so that is the theme for 2020. You had some fantastic ideas that the White Ribbon team and our designers have used to help shape this year's campaign and we hope you will like the results as much as we do. We hope to be able to unveil the completed designs next month and that 2020 White Ribbon t-shirts, posters and flyers will be available at the beginning of October.
This month we have lots of fantastic stories to share about the work our White Ribbon Ambassadors are doing in the community and their achievements. Next month you can look forward to stories about an amazing fundraiser and a father/son team spreading the kaupapa. Get in touch if you have any ideas for future newsletter stories (contact[at]whiteribbon.org.nz) - we'd love to hear them!
Rob McCann
White Ribbon Manager
White Ribbon Ambassador Arish Naresh in Queen’s Birthday Honours
We were delighted to learn that White Ribbon Ambassador Arish Naresh was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of his services to the community and dentistry in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. At just 34 years of age, Arish has already made a substantial contribution both to the community as a whole and in his field.
Learn more about Arish’s contribution and experiences.
We are extremely grateful to Arish for his commitment to White Ribbon and his dedication to helping migrants thrive, not just survive, in New Zealand. If you know someone in your community who is willing to stand up, speak out and act to prevent violence against women, please talk to them about becoming a White Ribbon Ambassador. Having community leaders spread the kaupapa within their community, is a vital part of our efforts to prevent violence against women.
Download a nomination form to become a White Ribbon Ambassador. Contact us if you have any questions about the process or the role (contact[at]whiteribbon.org.nz).
White Ribbon Ambassador advocates for zero tolerance of family violence on Apna TV
Auckland District Court Judge Ajit Swaran Singh recently featured in a programme focused on family violence for Hindi television channel Apna TV. Judge Singh has been a vocal champion of violence prevention for many years and is one of White Ribbon’s longest standing Ambassadors.
It is so important for ethnic communities in New Zealand to hear anti-violence messages from community leaders in their own languages. We are extremely grateful to Judge Singh and Apna TV for highlighting the issue.
View Judge Singh's interview about family violence on Apna TV. The interview is predominantly in Hindi, but the White Ribbon message is also in English and begins at 12:22 on the recording.
Learn more about Judge Singh’s background and community involvement.
The White Ribbon Ride
2020 has been a challenging year. We have reluctantly decided to cancel this year's White Ribbon Ride, given the resurgence of community transmission of COVID-19 and the resulting shifts to Level 3 in Auckland and Level 2 throughout the rest of New Zealand.
While we fervently hope that by November, New Zealand is again free of community transmission we are conscious of how quickly things change and the potential harm that could be caused by promoting community events which include Riders that have traveled throughout the country.
The Riders travel in groups, covering large areas of the country, sharing the kaupapa, and have always enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of community hosts and we do not want to take any risks with our Riders or the community.
We know how disappointed both Riders and community groups will be and we look forward to returning the Riders to the road in 2021.
For 2020 we hope to unveil a virtual ride, where riders can share their stories from community events and rides, and link these together to form a virtual ride.
Spoken Word Competition
White Ribbon will be holding an online Spoken Word competition for High School students on 17th September from 7pm. We would greatly appreciate your assistance in sharing information about the event within your community. We had hoped to be able to hold this event in person, but with the return of community transmission of COVID-19 it seems sensible to stick with virtual events this year.
Find out more details on the White Ribbon Spoken Word Competition.
It is open to all New Zealand-based High Schools students aged 15 and over, so please share this information with performers, artists and students that might create poetry or take part in a spoken word competition. Last year’s entrants created powerful poems and ended up being a really important part of the White Ribbon campaign, so we look forward to hearing more from youth voices in 2020. Like last year, there will be some great prizes up for grabs and a fantastic panel of judges.
Email us if you have any questions about the Spoken Word competition (contact[at]whiteribbon.org.nz).
Hannah won the competition in 2019 and is a gifted young writer. Hannah’s entry ‘Respectfully’ focused on using an unhealthy relationship and dedicating the poem to 'respectfully declining' it. She says the poem builds up to the strength of being able to walk away from the relationship.
The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on domestic violence in New Zealand
One of our wonderful White Ribbon Ambassadors Mele Wendt MNZM was invited to speak about domestic violence in New Zealand with a particular focus on the impact of COVID-19 in a webinar jointly presented by UN Women Aotearoa New Zealand and the United Nations Association of New Zealand and Wellington.
View this webinar on domestic violence in NZ during lockdown if you missed the opportunity to take part on 23rd June 2020. The webinar was really informative and featured four fantastic speakers: Mele, Dr Ang Jury (Chief Executive of Women’s Refuge), MP Jan Logie (Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice -Domestic and Sexual Violence Issues) and Superintendent Eric Tibbott (NZ Police).
With the current community transmission of COVID-19 and the return to the Level 3 restrictions in Auckland the thoughts of the speakers on the impact on domestic violence are especially relevant at this time.
Read a brief summary of the issues raised in the webinar.
Our House Rules campaign
White Ribbon have created #ourhouserules – simple behaviours to create a safe and happy lockdown for everyone. It creates a platform to talk about positive behaviours in the home, and helps us reach out to vulnerable families.
Get more information on Our House Rules.
White Ribbon Shop Open
The White Ribbon online shop is open but there may be a delay in deliveries as our distributors are based in Auckland. We have a special new item available now, a White Ribbon bone carving. Each one is hand-crafted by Skeleton Crew Carving Studio.
Order your special White Ribbon necklace and other resources.