More than 2000 people are expected to gather tonight in Christchurch to mark the end of Ramadan with the Muslim community, almost three months since the mosque massacre.
“I thought the food can heal people,” Simo Abbari, who lost his business partner in one of the terrorist shootings, told TV New Zealand on Sunday, June 9.
“We use food as a tool to bring people together.”
50 Muslims were killed and injured by an Islamophobic terrorist in a massacre in two Christchurch mosques last March 15.
Abbari manages Simo’s International Cuisine. He was joined by some of the city’s best chefs, including Jimmy McIntyre who said he wanted to do something good for the community.
Ilex Café Chef Jonny Schwass also said he was determined to deliver quality food and spent time in the kitchen with Muslim women to perfect their recipes.
“I got totally educated about flavor,” he says.
According to TVNZ, $30,000 worth of food was donated to the event as Muslims marking the end of Ramadan will eat for free.
Hijab Dress
In another location, the Nelson Tasman community celebrated the end of Ramadan with the local Muslim community, Stuff reported.
Along with dinner, the event included the unveiling of a dress made as an homage for the martyrs of the Christchurch Mosque attacks.
The dress, named “the tears of Allah”, was made by Ruby Bay designer Susan Mott out of 51 hijabs, one for each person who was murdered in the March 15 shootings.
“It just sort of came to me. I’m not a Muslim, I’ve never had anything to do with the Muslim community before,” Mott said.
“I was finding about the hijab and there was a lot of publicity, the prime minister was wearing it. So I decided to make the dress out of hijab.”
Made up of red, pink and white hijabs, Mott made all 51 by hand before combining them into the design of the dress.
Mott said the red represented the violence and hate of the attack itself, while pink was the love and support of the community, and the white signified the spirits of the victims rising to heaven.
“Other people donated flowers, cooked meals, did all sorts of things, this was just my way of doing something.”
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region.
It is home to 404,500 residents, making it New Zealand’s 3rd most populous city behind Auckland and Wellington.
There are about 50,000 Muslims in New Zealand and about 60 mosques and Islamic centers.