It has been three weeks since New Zealand - and the world - experienced the horror of the Christchurch mosque shootings. During Friday Prayer on March 15, 50 died and a further 50 were injured following consecutive terrorist attacks at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre.
Otago Daily Times Illustrations editor Stephen Jaquiery visited Christchurch this week and focused on the recovery.
"To my darling dad, ABDUL, I love you. I miss you."
Written in chalk on a bluestone wall, the message short and simple, but with a lifetime of feeling. Below it lies a sea of flowers covering several hundred metres on Rolleston Ave.
They have withered and browned off. The numerous soft toys among the flowers and messages are sodden following rain, they are also being swallowed by a mounting layer of fallen leaves as the season changes, but their sentiment remains as strong as ever. A message delivered many thousands of times in an outpouring by strangers unknown to the fallen; a universal message of sorrow and love.
A steady flow of people walk along the memorial avenue. Mothers pushing babies in strollers, backpackers laden with their possessions, couples holding hands. They walk, they stop, they read a message or take a photograph. They reflect.
A man dressed in a dark hoodie places an arrangement of deep red flax flowers, backed with soft toi toi flowers, on the heap. Swinging from an attached string was a card which simply reads "us", written inside a red heart. Sitting on a nearby bench, he took up his saxophone and started playing. Melancholy, mournful music softened the busy road noise. People came out of shops and listened. It seemed a decent thing to do. He eventually stopped and stood up before getting into his car and carrying on with his day.
Awil Hussein, a Muslim living in Melbourne for the past 19 years but formerly from Christchurch, was there to offer his respects and lend a hand.
He politely inquired whether I wished to come into the Linwood Islamic Centre. The door was locked and a missing door handle hampered our entry, but soon, with shoes removed, we entered the mosque where seven people lost their lives. The smart, open, sparsely furnished room smelled pleasantly of lemon. One prayer mat was laid out on the new grey carpet. The interior was quite a contrast to the weatherboard exterior which desperately needed painting. A former church, it opened in 2018.
Fresh putty on a window used by the gunman was the only sign of the recent tragedy.
He then offered to give some background to their Islamic beliefs.
First Allah made Adam from clay and then Eve from a rib. I was transported back to my own Sunday school lessons with some differences. His Jesus was a prophet, mine the son of God but both were from the Virgin mother Mary.
Following my informative whirlwind lesson and offering of food, I left, clutching my own well-thumbed copy of the Koran to go to Al Noor Mosque.
With a golden dome rising impressively from its roof, the Al Noor has served the 3000-strong Christchurch Muslim community since 1985.
Armed police patrol the street in front of a wall of flowers. More flowers circle an avenue of trees across the road in Hagley Park with coloured paper chains covering the fence.
Off the long entrance corridor is a smaller prayer room where I am greeted again by Awil who is conversing quietly with a group of visitors. Off this room is the main area of worship. Quite plain but also grand under the dome, the floor is completely covered with protective sponge plastic and the walls are freshly painted. Here another group are being given a better understanding of Islam.
The positives of this atrocity has been for our country to pull together against evil, to embrace Muslims and to learn about Islam.
Awil says Allah has given humans free will to make choices in their lives but he has foreknowledge of our destiny and he has total control over it.
