Three mothers who lost sons in the terrorist attacks say working to prevent others suffering the same violence has both helped and frustrated them
Sayyad – 14 when he died – was the youngest of five shining soccer stars murdered on 15 March 2019. Now their mothers are each, in different ways, working towards the same goal: curbing the hateful violence that was visited on their children before it can take children from other families. The work, they say, has frustrated and healed them.
We want the wider community to get together ... for people to really remember what they did for their Muslim neighboursThe sense of limbo means the fourth anniversary is fraught and tinged with uncertainty. Some families asked the government to forgo any memorial service this year, while Abbas is part of another group of women who are hosting a week of unity-themed events – including her day of friendly futsal for 42 school children aged 10 to 14.
Tariq – the second of four children – came home from school each day with pockets full of stones, and went on to complete a geology degree. The environmentalist and strict vegetarian was fastidious about his nutrition and training for football. Omar now works to help coordinate feedback and questions for the government from Muslims in Christchurch, about progress on a wide-ranging work programme it committed to after an inquiry into the attacks. Change is slow, she says, and it is sometimes difficult to get evidence from officials that movement is happening.
“I wasn’t really into politics before,” says Salama, who has a doctorate in biology. “I was living my life, enjoying my family and my kids and doing my job as an educator.” Last September, she spoke on a United Nations panel about the rights and needs of terrorism victims, alongside a mother bereaved in the 2011 massacre by a white supremacist in Norway. Both women listed similar concerns, years apart: insufficient mental health support, a lack of accountability, and the insidious global spread of racist online extremism that fuelled both crimes.
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