Compassion for rough sleepers
Outreach Service worker Josh, right, gratefully accepts the sleeping bags from Farid Ahmed and his family and supporters at the City Mission.
Compassion is a common ground for humans no matter what their religion, or colour, or culture … or anything, says Farid Ahmed.
He says this sitting in his lounge in his wheelchair next to a huge pile of multi-coloured sleeping bags he has bought to keep other people warm.
Farid’s compassion is world famous. He was a survivor of the Al Noor Mosque massacre in 2019 when his much-loved wife Husna was killed as she went through the mosque looking for him. Shortly afterwards, he stunned and inspired the world when he said he forgave the shooter.
As the late afternoon light fills the lounge, he explains why he has bought 60 sleeping bags for Christchurch as people who are sleeping on the streets this winter.
The idea came from a bad night's sleep three weeks ago, when he was feeling cold and restless.
“Then it came to my mind that if I cannot feel comfortable at home, then how can the homeless people in the streets survive in the winter? ”
“Then it came to my mind that if I cannot feel comfortable at home, then how can the homeless people in the streets survive in the winter? Once that idea popped into my mind, I was thinking what can I do? What can I do?”
He has been in a wheelchair since 1998 when he was hit by a drunk driver and so it was hard for him to do something directly himself on the streets. He started asking around – family, friends, MSD contacts, refugee centre, community police liaison officer – seeking an answer to what he should do and the trail led to the City Mission’s Outreach Service and our expert Josh, who patrols the streets.
Josh said sleeping bags were a wonderful way to care for people on the streets.
“Sleeping bags are comfort, warmth, protection and on freezing nights they can be the difference between life and death. A sleeping bag is easy to carry, to wash and dry, and to stash away in places where they can be used later,” Josh says.
So Farid bought 60 of them and his niece Farhana also contributed 60 thick socks. Farid says it brings him joy to know that people out in the cold will be helped by his gift.
He says it is only a small offering, but if everyone does a little, then what they can achieve adds up to a big help. It's about people coming together to help others and its something he has done all his life since his days in Bangladesh, where he was born and where his family would share what they had with friends and neighbours.
Farid felt the power of people connecting and supporting each other after the mosque shootings when his family and friends gathered around him and helped him heal at a time when he was overwhelmed by grief and shock.
“They helped me find positivity again,” he says. He will continue to give what he can to people who need help in his community. “It brings me joy.”