Unity in Diversity
October 19, 2025
Celebrating our common ground
We all belong - This is a story focusing on the efforts of Farid Ahmed to spread a message of Unity and Diversity following the Massacre of 51 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch Mosques in March 2019. The shooter killed his wife Husna, but he and their daughter Shafia, forgave the gunman. An act of forgiveness that has enabled them to cope with their grief and work towards greater understanding between different cultures and beliefs here in New Zealand. Unity and diversity are not mutually exclusive despite the rhetoric and othering we so often hear from those focused on divisions. #peace #love #cityofcompassion #unityindiversity
Farid makes a whistle stop tour of Nelson to speak with schools and community groups about Compassion and forgiveness. A survivor of the massacres at two Christchurch mosques in 2019, Farid is campaigning for March the 15th to be recognised as a day of compassion. He wants those who died to remembered for their love and not the hate visited upon their community by a lone gunman. In this video Farid speaks to:
For generations, the ancestral rock art of the Arowhenua people has been owned by others, with the land and limestone caves held in private ownership as part of a Gould family farm. Now after more than 170 years, Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua has purchased back the land and full access and ownership of their ancient taonga.