According to Rahyafte(the missionaries and converts website)On March 15 2019, Temel Atacocugu was shot nine times when a terrorist travelled from Dunedin to Christchurch and opened fire at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre.
Now three years later, he is walking from Dunedin to Christchurch to retrace the terrorists path, but this time, choosing a path of peace.
“Three years ago the terrorist did his journey for hate, but three years later as a victim I will do what he did, three years ago the journey, to turn to a peace journey” he says.
He departed Dunedin’s Octagon on March 1, and will walk 360km up the South Island to arrive in Christchurch in time for the third anniversary of the attack.
“I have bullets in my legs and it’s going to be a big challenge for me”.
Temel has lost count of the amount of surgeries he has had over the past three years, and the walk will challenge him both physically and mentally.
“My strength and my faith will help,” he says.
Temel aims to inspire people to choose peace over hate, and is also raising money for three charities to help support our children and their well-being.
“I want to carry this on for our future generations to make sure they have a great life and sacred life in New Zealand and all around the world,” he says.
Save the Children NZ, who is one of the charities Temel is raising money for, says, “it’s a wonderful initiative at a time when the world really needs peace”.
“We’re watching what’s happening in the Ukraine it’s devastating, so we need this, and we need to get behind people like Temel spreading love and peace,” says Chief Executive Heidi Coetzee
“It is about his own children and the children on the day of the shooting that really brought him to this place to do this for us.
“Temel, like us, believes that children need nurturing, they need love, they need education they need food to eat so we stand united with that message that it all starts with our children,” Coetzee says.
The other two charities Temel is walking for are Gumboot Friday and the Child Cancer Foundation.
Source: 1News.co
