Dr Mohammed Alayyan, Dr Maysoon Salama - we acknowledge your loss
Al Noor Charitable Trust Board members, staff of the An Nur Child Care Centre, families and friends
Kia ora koutou katoa
As-salum Alaykum
Peace be upon you
Thank you for the opportunity to visit here today and play a small role as you once again create a safe environment for the children to explore their world in preparation for their lives ahead. Thank you for your passion and your commitment to the children and their families.
I acknowledge with sadness the loss that has been felt here. We feel your pain as our pain and we stand with you.
When I read your invitation I was moved. You told me that you were holding this official reopening of the centre after the worst mosque terror attacks to show the community that ‘we are resilient in the face of such horrific events, to show the world we are not defeated by this worst terror attack and we will carry on’.
These words are powerful indeed - they do not deny the atrocity that has occurred - however they reclaim the power that he tried to steal from us with the lives that were so cruelly taken. An act that was designed to divide us, has in fact united us.
And it the extraordinary outpouring of love, compassion and kindness, Along with the infinite capacity for forgiveness and humanity expressed by our Muslim Communities has been the message that has been heard across the world.
These are who we are as a city and a nation, and no one can taken them from us.
An Nur Child Care Centre has been a special place for nearly 20 years. It provides a place for young mums to come together and share the joys and challenges of raising their children, offering and receiving advice from each other. The Maori word for teaching and learning is the same. Ako is to teach and Ako is to learn. We teach as we learn and vice versa. It takes a village to raise a child and that’s what is happening here.
Congratulations on this reopening and thank you for all that you do.