‘Here it is love country, not hate’
Inside the gates of Hamilton’s mosque, Abdiwali Hassan is smiling and warmly greeting people off the street.
This was meant to be a car boot sale to raise money to extend the Jamia Masjid Mosque on Heaphy Tce but Friday’s terror attack in Christchurch turned it into an open day so people could visit, mingle and show their support.
Hassan, 43, greets many of them mid-morning on Sunday despite one of his family members, an uncle in his 70s, being killed.
Another was wounded and has since been discharged from hospital, yet Hassan is still smiling, still pronouncing his love for his new homeland.
The former Christchurch resident has been phoning his family and friends in the South Island regularly since the shootings left 50 people dead.
‘‘It can be everywhere in the world these days, you know,’’ he says,. ‘‘You can’t do anything about it whether it is America, Europe or even where we come from, my home country. Here in New Zealand, people know love and peace.’’
Hassan emigrated from Somalia to Christchurch nearly
23 years ago. He moved to Hamilton after the February earthquake in
2011.
His late uncle, as well as other family members and friends, were praying in one of the two Christchurch mosques targeted on Friday.
‘‘It’s very sad,’’ he says, ‘‘It shouldn’t happen here in New Zealand because here it is love country, not hate. I just wish that those that have been harmed will be okay one day. Just wish them good things for the future.’’
After the attack, Waikato Muslim Association’s Dr Asad Mohsin consulted with others about the car boot sale and decided to go ahead but with a different purpose.
‘‘We converted it into a community event,’’ Mohsin says, ‘‘So the purpose became just to meet the community and be together – which is more important. I am very pleased and very thankful to those who have taken up the cost of the food today – it is a great community effort, it’s excellent to see so many of the wider community coming in.
‘‘We will continue our efforts to engage more widely with the community and we will have a lot of options in coming days and months to integrate better.’’
The Donnell family from Te Awamutu arrived to pray in the mosque. They thought of going to a church down the road until they were invited.
‘‘We just wanted to show our support, to show we are all one,’’ Romina Donnell says.
‘‘We’ve been talking about it all the way through, it was lovely that we were asked into the mosque to do some prayers, it was beautiful going into the mosque.’’
Her husband, Lee, is visibly upset. ‘‘We are just showing our aroha which shows our disgust at what happened on Friday,’’ he says.
Cousins Amy and Diamond Karati laid flowers in front of the mosque and attended Saturday night’s vigil over the road yet they still wanted to come back to the open day.
‘‘It has brought a lot of cultures together, walking on here felt like we were walking into their marae, they should have been safe on their marae.
‘‘For us being Ma¯ ori, that’s our most sacred place and that is where we feel is home and that should have been the same for them. For us, it’s standing with them as a culture, not divided – that they are Muslim and we are Ma¯ ori – no, we are one,’’ Diamond Karati says.
Meanwhile, Waikato police have sent seven staff members to Christchurch to help and more staff were expected to go late on Sunday or Monday.
‘‘We’re assessing all risk and information that comes in either at a local or national level,’’ Senior Sergeant Phil Ruddell said. ‘‘Nationally there is still an arming of police so the public can expect to see police out and about doing normal duties to be armed until further notice.
‘‘That said, the supplying of staff to Canterbury to assist them will not diminish our ability to respond to events in Waikato.’’
Police are aware of a number of concerning comments on social media. Ruddell said all comments or information that the police are aware of are being assessed and responded to as necessary.
‘‘Walking on here felt like we were walking into their marae, they should have been safe on their marae.’’