A survivor of the Christchurch terror attacks has spread a message of love and peace four years after the Christchurch terror attacks.
Fifty-one people were killed and 40 others were injured in shootings at two Christchurch mosques on March 15, 2019.
Survivor Temel Atacocugu was shot nine times at Al Noor Mosque and has had many rounds of surgery in the years since.
He told Breakfast he remembers March 19, 2019 as a "terrible day".
"It's incredible, the darkest day for me and I'm sure for New Zealand too," he said.
Atacocugu said it is important "not only for the Muslim community, it is also important for the New Zealand nation" to remember the horrors of that day "to get lessons to not happen again in the future".
He said he believes he survived the attack to be a "peace maker and "peace spreader".
"I think that's what my reason I survived there, like [I was] reborn and starting to talk about spreading the peace against extremism."
Temel Atacocugu was shot nine times at Al Noor Mosque on that fateful day. (Source: Breakfast)
Atacocugu last year completed a 360km charity walk from Dunedin to Christchurch — following the path of the gunman — to promote peace rather than hate.
The journey had to be changed to a bike ride eight days after it began due to a blood infection.
"That's why I'm alive and I am a survivor."
He called the experience and the support he received "an incredible moment for me".
"I never forget what I have experienced while on this journey and I see as a loss of beautiful people living out there and then loss of people [who] wants the peace and secure life in this life like before March 15."
Atacocugu said after arriving at Al Noor Mosque, he "saw lots of people there who wants love".
"If we love each other and if we become as friends, everything will be easy."
'He would be very proud'
"How we have reacted or responded to March 15 is something that he would be very proud of,” Dr Hamimah Tuyan said of her late husband Zekeriya. (Source: Breakfast)
Dr Hamimah Tuyan's husband Zekeriya was killed in the terror attacks, but rather than retreat into her own grief, she has become a voice for the voiceless.
She founded the Sakinah Community Trust, a women-led group comprising of the next of kin of those lost in the terror attacks.
Tuyan said while March 15 "is never an easy time of the year", the survivors and loved ones of the people who were killed "try to be as strong as we can be and be as resilient as we navigate through all the processes and the systems and the services and have our needs addressed".
"How we have reacted or responded to March 15 is something that he would be very proud of," she said of her late husband.
"A very humble man, he was a very hardworking man, he was a very loving man and in his quiet — quiet but firm — self, he would have done what I, and some of my friends, are doing right now in response to March 15."
Tuyan said while there has been an "outpouring of aroha" in the years following the attacks, "there are still forces that seek to divide, the forces that seek to misinform".
She said the trust organised Unity Week as "an annual reminder — not just for ourselves, but for our children, our whānau, our colleagues, our neighbours and even leaders — to put aside time during this period to reflect on the lessons of March 15, if we have learnt any, and to recommit ourselves, to tell ourselves, to recommit ourselves to continue engaging with each other towards shifting social attitudes".
"We feel that the work of changing attitudes, breaking down stereotypes and bias through increasing positive inter-group contact and experiences, must be one of the national strategies towards social cohesion."
'A big void to fill'
Sara Qasem says one of New Zealand's darkest days should be remembered. (Source: Breakfast)
Two friends who lost their loved ones in the shooting feel nothing concrete has been achieved in the years following the attacks.
Sara Qasem, who lost her father Abdelfattah Qasem in the attacks, said conversations must continue to be had around tolerance, bias and racism in New Zealand.
"We're simply not having those conversations anymore and I feel as though we've become really stagnant and a bit complacent with how important it is that we maintain these conversations and really challenge our own points of views and our biases, not only for the Muslim community or in regards to Islamophobia but really for all marginalised communities within Aotearoa as well," she said.
It comes after the Education Review Office today released a report revealing that 20% of children in schools had experienced a racist event in the past month alone.
Qasem, who trained as a teacher, called the findings "incredibly concerning".
"I see how influential the minds of our youth are and I see such a profound opportunity here to help guide along their own journeys in really challenging their own biases and points of view rather than dealing with it later on down the line when people have already cemented and formed these views. I think at that stage, you get to a point where it's very difficult to change and very difficult to challenge.
"The longer that you carry these biases and these points of view and these things which you believe to be values in yourself, the harder it is to change. It's really disappointing and I really think that we need to have more of a focus that goes from down upwards, rather than just having sporadic focuses, if you will."
Aya Al-Umari, whose brother Hussein was among the victims of the terror attacks, said little "behavioural change has happened in society" in the years following one of New Zealand's darkest days.
"There is legislative changes here and there but in terms of us as a society, we only talk about this conversation during the anniversary," she said.
"It is an important conversation to have and the thing is we live this day in and day out for the last four years. Losing a loved one in the manner that we lost it in, it’s a big void to fill and so once all these conversations and support calms down, we actually continue to live this day in and day out."
Qasem also voiced her disappointment that there is "no formal way of recognising the significance of that day".
"I’m disappointed that it seems to be that there is a weight of this responsibility placed upon us to speak to an entire community which is so incredibly diverse to the point in which I could tell you I don't even know what — and I don't have the right to say what even Aya [Al-Umari], a good friend of mine — would want.
"The concept of a memorial is still so murky and perhaps doesn't align with a lot of the religious aspects that we have, it's quite important that we at the very least have some kind of formal recognition of the day."
That view was echoed by Al-Umari, who said the significance of the day "is not just our burden to carry".
"This happened in our land. There is a lot of parameters involved in this. There is the police, the customs — everything is involved in this and so it's not just our burden to carry".
"That shock that we as a society got on March 15, 2019 — that needs to carry on and it needs to carry on from the top as well."
She said "the general consensus is just because we don't want a government-led annual event, doesn't mean the conversation shouldn't happen".
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on Monday said the Government is still in talks over how the day should be remembered.
'Never forget'
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office this afternoon said "Aotearoa New Zealand will never forget March 15".
"We continue to keep faith with the families of the victims of this tragedy, and with the Muslim community," the statement read.
The spokesperson said Minister Andrew Little meets regularly with the independent advisory group Kāpuia, which includes representatives from the Canterbury community, with the most recent meeting held earlier this week.
They said the "view that has been expressed to Minister Little is that they would prefer to commemorate the day privately".
Hipkins' office said the prime minister was "deeply moved by the opportunity" to meet with the families of the terror attack victims and members of the Muslim community during a visit to Al Noor Mosque on March 3.
"While there has not been an annual Parliamentary marking of March 15, it will always remain close to the hearts of New Zealanders, including the Prime Minister.
"He wished to reiterate this to the families and the community, and has recorded a personal video message for them today."
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