FROM HEARTACHE TO HAPPINESS
This father gives thanks for the good Samaritan who saved him in NZ’S deadliest mass shooting
Their lives collided under a hail of bullets on a Christchurch street, but for mosque shooting survivor Abbas Tahir, that fateful moment has forged a special bond with a big-hearted Uber driver he now considers part of his family.
The 46-year-old former bakery assistant remains haunted by the harrowing events of March 15. He hasn’t been able to live a normal life after a projectile pierced his back as he fled Masjid Al Noor – where 51 of his friends lost their lives while worshipping.
With shrapnel still lodged in his body, the father-of-two struggles to hold his children for any length of time and can’t escape the constant pain.
Yet despite such hardship, Abbas remains thankful for the kindness of Christchurch woman Jill Keats, 66, who showed selfless actions under fire, staying by his side in his greatest hour of need.
Abbas’ wife Zeynia Endrise, 34, tells Woman’s Day they have nothing but affection for Jill’s commitment and friendship, which started with visits to Christchurch Hospital and now includes popping around to their home laden with boxes of fresh fruit and gifts.
FOREVER GRATEFUL
“Thank you so much for this woman,” Zeynia says, who came to New Zealand from Ethiopia a decade ago. “She is an awesome lady. She’s family now.”
“We’ve developed a lovely bond,” Jill adds.
The good Samaritan says she didn’t think twice about helping the wounded stranger who collapsed beside her car, but even she couldn’t have imagined the remarkable connection the pair now share.
“Abbas was running toward me and fell down right beside my door. The guy in the car behind me got his first aid kit and helped me pull Abbas around behind my car. As I was pressing down on his wound I was talking to him, telling him to ‘hang in there, the ambulance is coming.’”
But what she found incredible was that in the middle of the dramatic events, the badly injured man seemed more worried about the welfare of his heavily pregnant wife.
“As long as I live, I will never forget Abbas pushing me his phone to talk to you,” she tells Zeynia. “I thought this man loves this woman. It was so touching.”
“I said, ‘I’m with your partner and he’s been shot in the back and it’s serious. Go to the hospital and wait for him. I’ll stay and talk to him.’ And that’s what I did.”
Zeynia clearly remembers the phone calls that sent her world into a spin and admits the weeks following the attacks were incredibly tough.
“I spent the first day at the hospital not knowing if he was dead or alive. I was crying and crying,” she remembers. “My little boy Rayyan kept asking me, ‘Where’s Daddy?’”
Abbas underwent four operations to repair his badly injured body.
“I remember Jill helping me that day,” Abbas tells.
He says the one shining beacon in a bleak year was surviving to see his gorgeous son Ridwaan
– a little brother for Rayyan, two – who was born on June 18.
“I was very happy to see my baby,” smiles Abbas.
SPIRIT OF GIVING
The couple are also thankful for the warmth they have experienced from their local community – ranging from staff at Rayyan’s preschool, who ferried mum and son to and from the centre and gave gifts, to her employer, cleaning company Spotless, which kept her on the payroll when she was too traumatised to work.
“They all helped us so much, thank you,” says Zeynia. “Abbas especially wants to pay special thanks to the hospital and the police. They worked so hard.”
She says along with Jill’s friendship and practical support, she is also grateful to have had her 26-year-old sister Nurit Endris staying with them after she was granted a temporary visa to be with the family as they recovered.
Zeynia explains life has been tough, and although her parental leave and victim payouts have kept them going, funds are running low.
Abbas is also facing more surgery, with blood tests showing lead at abnormally high levels. Along with weekly physiotherapy visits, the shooting victim needs to take pain medication daily.
Despite being thrown together under such tragic circumstances, Jill can’t help but wonder how an act of kindness on a dark day is giving her much more than she could have ever imagined.
“It seemed the right thing to do,” she says. “I haven’t got any grandchildren, so it’s ended up to be a blessing.”
‘It seemed the right thing to do. It’s ended up to be a blessing’
Like any proud mother, Deb Harding loves talking about her son’s achievements – and with good reason. After all, he’s a popular TV presenter with chart-topping hits and millions of fans. But who is he? At home in Karrabin, near Ipswich in Queensland, he’s simply 29-year-old Harry Harding. But in China, he’s Hazza – and a superstar! The story of how that happened is as unlikely as it is bizarre.
“Harry never set out to be famous,” says Deb. “In fact, he was shy as a little boy.”
Deb and husband Graeme raised Harry and his sister Bronte on their rural 10-hectare property. But from early on,
Harry was looking beyond his rural horizons.
At primary and high school, Harry studied Mandarin Chinese and continued his studies at university. Looking for novel ways to further his language skills, he began listening to Mandarin pop songs.
“That led to an interest in karaoke,” Deb explains.
On nights out with his friends, Harry was known to get up and sing. “The first time I saw him perform was at a karaoke bar in Brisbane, when he sang a Mandarin pop song,” say Deb. “I was shocked. He wasn’t my shy little boy any more. And he was really good!”
While holidaying in China in 2011, a 21-year-old Harry posted some videos of himself singing on Youku, the Chinese site similar to Youtube.
“It was just a bit of fun, for his friends to watch,” says Deb.
It led to other videos, which quickly became internet sensations. A producer from GDTV World – a TV channel in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou – contacted Harry and invited him to sing on a local show.
What happened next exceeded all his expectations. Harry made such an impression that he was offered a full-time job as a host on Facetime, a popular talk show.
“One day he was a student and travelling in China, the next he had his own TV show!” says Deb.
The audience couldn’t get enough of the Australian boy who could sing in their own language. His first single, Let Go, soared to number one on the local charts, where it stayed for 11 weeks. His next single, No Worries, was also a huge hit.
Back home, Deb, Graeme and sister Bronte watched on in bemusement.
Modest Harry was just as surprised as his parents.
“I feel like an impostor,” he told one interviewer, saying he was living a dream and kept expecting to wake up.
Since then, Harry has hosted a travel show and documentary series, performed at concerts and worked for a Hong Kong TV and radio station. He’s also had a reality show made about him and is about to release a new single.
And while Hazza is a megastar in the world’s most populous nation, there’s no chance of fame going to his head.
“He might be a pop star in China,” says Deb, who’s visited Harry several times. “But back home in Ipswich he’s just Harry – and that’s the way he likes it.”
‘One day he was a student... the next he had his own TV show!’