Mosque attacks
‘She wanted to cry but she was trying not to’
Everyone who came to the Wellington Islamic Centre two days after 51 worshippers were shot dead at two Christchurch mosques was either crying or needed a hug, Naima Abdi says.
Jacinda Ardern was no different, the woman famously photographed in a warm embrace with the Prime Minister told the Herald.
The photo would bounce around the globe, from news media to social media to the exterior of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
Many saw it as a simple act of compassion from Ardern, comforting a member of a community devastated by an act of hate.
And it was, but the comfort went both ways, Abdi said.
She was standing by the door because so many people needed encouragement to come in, with some even standing on the other side of the road.
“Most of the New Zealanders felt guilty, so I was trying to make them feel comfortable enough to come in. [I wanted them to know] in every society there’s always good people and bad people.”
By the time the Prime Minister arrived Abdi had already hugged “a million people”, she said. “Everyone that came through the door was crying or needed a hug. Jacinda, she was in tears as well. She had tears in her eyes. She wanted to cry but she was trying not to.”
They embraced after the Prime Minister “stretched out to me”, Abdi said.
It was a long, full hug which lasted about a minute, she said.
“It was a ‘hold on to this moment’ kind of a hug and she said, ‘We’ll get through this together.’ I said ‘I know we will’.”
The mum of three, a Geneva Healthcare support worker who also volunteers for the Muslim Association and refugees’ NGO Changemakers Forum, didn’t realise her photo was being taken.
But Abdi, who came to New Zealand as a refugee from Somalia in 2009, was in no doubt as to who benefited from the embrace. Everyone.
“I’m more emotional [in that moment] because every new face, every new tear brings new tears to your eyes. But we were both [needing a hug]. And the response [to the photo], that was amazing. The world acknowledged the support and the love we have in New Zealand.”