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Home / New Zealand

Heartfelt gestures from New Zealand's heartland to the Christchurch mosque attack victims

Edward Rooney
By Edward Rooney
Regional News Editor·NZ Herald·
20 Mar, 2019 09:36 PM6 mins to read

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"My love and support goes out to all our Muslim whanau," one message read.

No gesture, it seems, is too small or too big.

Donations are surging as New Zealanders look for a way to show support for the victims of last Friday's mosque attacks in Christchurch.

But around the country - in every city, town and settlement - public displays of aroha and tautoko have sprung up in so many different forms.

Fasting

Dianne Lim, the head girl of Pompallier Catholic College, and Kirwin Hampshire, head boy of the college, said many staff and students would be fasting during the school day tomorrow as well as raising money for the families of those who were killed.

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Pompallier College head students Dianne Lim, left and Kirwin Hampshire prepare for a school-wide fast. Photo / John Stone
Pompallier College head students Dianne Lim, left and Kirwin Hampshire prepare for a school-wide fast. Photo / John Stone

"We wanted to show that our high school is standing in solidarity with the victims of the Christchurch attacks. We think the fast was a good idea because it's Lent - it's what Christians do and we're a Christian school - and then also fasting is one of the five pillars in Islam," Lim said.

Ōtamatea High School has also said it would take part.

Colour your day

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Rodney College also has broadened the fasting theme to "giving up something".

The school was also getting behind the Christchurch "Colour Your Day" initiative, which encourages people to wear something colourful on Friday, and would be having a gold-coin donation mufti with a minute's silence at 1.40pm.

Greeen ribbons

Kamo High School students are showing solidarity in a different way.

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Student Tyla Trigg, 15, and Mya Kereopa, 14, made hundreds of green ribbons on Tuesday to sell to fellow students for a gold coin as a way of raising money for the families affected by last week's terrorist attack.

Mya Kereopa (back, left), Tyla Trigg, principal Joanne Hutt, Jake Ota, Brielle Noble; (front) teacher Courtney Opie, Jonny Halton, Maurice Wynands, Riley Henderson, Fletcher Dalgleish, Logan Thomas.
Mya Kereopa (back, left), Tyla Trigg, principal Joanne Hutt, Jake Ota, Brielle Noble; (front) teacher Courtney Opie, Jonny Halton, Maurice Wynands, Riley Henderson, Fletcher Dalgleish, Logan Thomas.

Trigg said green was chosen because it is an Islamic colour and also the colour of New Zealand nature.

She said Kamo High School's 911 students would also be having a mufti day today to boost fundraising efforts.

Wearing white

Kaia Derbyshire wanted to do something to show solidarity and help the victims financially.

She organised a mufti day yesterday at Bay of Islands International Academy at Te Tii, near Kerikeri, and urged her schoolmates to wear white as a symbol of peace. She also invited them to give gold coin donations and make cards with messages of support.

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Kaia Derbyshire, centre, with, from left, Aimee Croucher, 9, Hannah-May Croucher, 10, Eva Whyman, 10, Keira Featherstone, 10, and Nate Brewer, 10. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Kaia Derbyshire, centre, with, from left, Aimee Croucher, 9, Hannah-May Croucher, 10, Eva Whyman, 10, Keira Featherstone, 10, and Nate Brewer, 10. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Kaia then enlisted the help of her principal, Chris Bell, to contact other primary schools around the Bay of Islands and invite them to join in.

The idea is that each school will take a photo of its students dressed in white, with all the donations, photos and messages delivered to Christchurch's Muslim community.

Daisy chains

Messages of support and love for those affected by the Christchurch shootings were also written on 1800 strips of coloured paper which formed a huge daisy chain at Otumoetai College yesterday.

Otumoetai College students  from left Alex Blair, 17, Grace Blissett, 17, Bruce Farthing, Makayla Wadsworth, 17, and Kristian Reid, 17. Photo / George Novak
Otumoetai College students from left Alex Blair, 17, Grace Blissett, 17, Bruce Farthing, Makayla Wadsworth, 17, and Kristian Reid, 17. Photo / George Novak

The daisy chain of 1800 messages from students was draped along a fence looking out towards the school field.

Paperclip challenge

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Tauranga primary school teacher Leah Nesbit has embarked on The Paperclip Challenge, aiming to trade up a paperclip in seven days to something valuable.

Nesbit, who works at Te Ranga School, said she and some friends attended a business course on Sunday and were then assigned The Paperclip Challenge - They were each given a week to turn an innocuous, simple paperclip into something of much greater value.

Leah Nesbit traded a paperclip for a ice cream machine to raise money for Christchurch mosque shootings victims. Photo / George Novak
Leah Nesbit traded a paperclip for a ice cream machine to raise money for Christchurch mosque shootings victims. Photo / George Novak

For Nesbit, the greatest item of value she could think of was something to help those affected by Friday's massacre in Christchurch in which 50 people were gunned down.

Within two days, the paperclip has already been traded for a whistle, pen, stationery set, hat, Warriors shirt, tennis racquet and today the ice cream maker.

Human chains

A Facebook event called NZ Stand Together had been set up, with the idea of urging people to join hands and circle their local mosque to stand in solidarity with their local Muslim community for Friday prayer.

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Secretary of the Tauranga Mosque, Ibrahim Hassan, said the chain was a wonderful idea and a nice way to bring people together in light of awful events.

Headscarves

Communities throughout New Zealand are joining another Facebook group calling for people to wear headscarves on Friday in a show of support for Muslims.

The idea reportedly has the support the Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand and the NZ Muslim Association.

Candlelit vigils

There will be many gatherings on Friday similar to the one Rotorua couple Lily and Omar Al Omari have organised, multicultural reflections in memory of the 50 people who died.

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The Rotorua lakefront vigil will begin at 2.30pm, as the prayer time for Muslims is 2pm on Friday, and gives people a chance for prayers before they make their way to the lakefront.

Omar and Lily Joy Al Omari are organising a vigil in Rotorua to commemorate the Christchurch mosque shootings. Photo / Stephen Parker
Omar and Lily Joy Al Omari are organising a vigil in Rotorua to commemorate the Christchurch mosque shootings. Photo / Stephen Parker

The vigil will include a minute of silence, Muslim funeral prayer, the New Zealand national anthem, and a haka.

All those who attend are invited to bring a candle. There will be chairs for those who struggle to sit on the grass.

There will also be a donation bucket collecting for the Christchurch Shooting Victims' Fund.

Details of the major vigils are here.

Hikoi

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A candlelit march will make its way through Hastings at 6.30pm on Friday.

The Hikoi of Unity, organised by Peter Paul James, will start in Albert Square where prayers will be said in three languages, Arabic, Maori and English.

Peter Paul James making arrangements with a team of helpers ahead of a hikoi to be held to Albert Square in Hastings. Photo / Warren Buckland
Peter Paul James making arrangements with a team of helpers ahead of a hikoi to be held to Albert Square in Hastings. Photo / Warren Buckland

Then with candles lit, the march will head down Heretaunga St towards the Hastings Mosque where a gift will be handed over to leaders of the mosque as a sign of unity.

Those attending the event are asked to wear white and each bring a candle.

Condolence books

More than 300 people gathered around Waipukurau's "Green Patch" on Sunday in a public show of support facilitated by the CHB District Council, St Andrew's Ministries and Epic Ministries where a large sheet was filled with messages of solace.

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Messages of hope being written in Central Hawke's Bay to be sent to Christchurch.
Messages of hope being written in Central Hawke's Bay to be sent to Christchurch.

There were also karakia and prayers, singing, tears and hugs. People flocked to add their signatures to a message of support to be sent to Christchurch.

Floral bouquets

Mosques around the country have been deluged with flowers.

But other sites have also been flower-bombed such the bouquet left at the Dannevirke clock tower by residents, with the message, "Kia Kaha Christchurch, we stand as one".

Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis said there were just six Muslim families in Dannevirke and one in Eketahuna.

A Hawke's Bay mosque is smothered with flowers and messages of peace, love and respect after last Friday's horrific events in Christchurch. Photo / Hawke's bay Today
A Hawke's Bay mosque is smothered with flowers and messages of peace, love and respect after last Friday's horrific events in Christchurch. Photo / Hawke's bay Today
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