Episode Playlist
Christchurch Invitation - Ep 13: Hassan Hassan – Sharing the Blessing of Education and Giving Back( 0:53:44)
Episode Information
Arriving in New Zealand at the age of 15 knowing virtually no English meant that Hassan Hassan could only watch soccer and not join in. More importantly it blocked the way to the education that was not possible in Somalia. Two years of intense application at Hagley College and a determined focus on the language opened the doors. Now, as he finalises his M.Sc.thesis, focussing on urban resilience and renewal and youth development, his clear aim is to give back to the wider society.
Published: 23/04/2025 9:00:00 a.m.
Christchurch Invitation - Ep 12: Maka Mohi – “Finding Your Way Back Home”( 0:57:58)
Episode Information
"Pukehina in the Bay of Plenty is tiny. For Maka Mohi the messages he heard were that elsewhere was amazing; the Māori world wasn’t amazing. A misstep in high school so, at 17, ”thinking I was 24,” he left for big city Brisbane. Temptations: drink, drugs, and a downward spiral. Back in NZ and on the run. And prison.
The challenge: to find his way back. To learn who he was and realise he’d been “raised amazing” – surrounded by love, and whanau. And his father’s words: “You’ll always have home.”"
Published: 26/03/2025 9:00:00 a.m.
Christchurch Invitation - Ep 11: Temel Ataçocuğu – The journey with pain, and walking for peace( 0:57:0)
Episode Information
At a time when the NZ government is discussing firearms legislation we consider the great harm from weapons in the wrong hands. Temel Ataçocuğu suffered major bullet injuries in the Christchurch mosque attacks. Almost six years on, he speaks about the drastic changes in his life, and on how his traumas can be triggered.
He talks, too, about his Walk for Peace; about the sense of safety he feels with his family in Türkiye; and of a quiet longing to be on a small fishing boat in the Mediterranean.
Published: 12/03/2025 9:00:00 a.m.
Christchurch Invitation - Ep 10: Tony Green & Sara Qasem: Turning the tables”( 0:56:53)
Episode Information
In a previous conversation, Bariz Shah suggested the tables should be turned and the host (that’s me) should be questioned. I dwelt on that for a while, then asked Sara Qasem to be the questioner (There seemed a kind of balance: Sara was my first podcast guest). So this is loosely framed around asking how I came to have the perspectives that I have. And why respond to March 15, 2019 with these podcasts?
I’m not sure how well I’ve addressed those questions. We may have to try again!!
Published: 26/02/2025 9:00:00 a.m.
Christchurch Invitation - Ep9: Zahra Emamzadeh – talking of Iran, and home( 0:56:18)
Episode Information
We're told that nearly 28% of New Zealand's population were born elsewhere. We come as outsiders, and learn to live in this quieter place where the streets can seem empty. It seems valuable to ask what we 'new' New Zealanders, we 'others' (I'm one) bring with us. What were we taught in those faraway places? What might we miss?
Today Zahra Emamzadeh talks of Iran, of Tehran with 10 million people, and the family (and food) that were, and are, precious to her.
Published: 29/01/2025 9:00:00 a.m.
Christchurch Invitation - Ep 8: Bariz Shah – on rich learnings; on where we best place our trust; and on where we find peace( 0:56:48)
Episode Information
"If we cannot dictate what happens to us, our power is in how we choose to respond. From being ""played out"" by someone he thought of as a friend, Bariz Shah learned to have higher loyalties. Prison offered a disconnect from what was hurting but systems do not easily forgive and forget. So you look beyond.
With his wife Saba, in Afghanistan after March 2019, he experienced people with self-acceptance and with no victim mindset. Creating 51 micro-businesses was one way they could offer hope."
Published: 15/01/2025 9:00:00 a.m.
Christchurch Invitation - Ep6: Shirley Wright – on a life with people as the focus and how her work is a privilege( 0:55:18)
Episode Information
In Shirley Wright’s childhood her father’s habit of inviting people home meant interesting conversations around the dinner table. Even in a family with seven children there was always enough food for one more: you “put another spud in the pot.”
She talks here about the inherited memories she grew up with; of a great grand-mother and an unjust pauper’s grave; of her mother's teachings and of how much her work with refugees and migrants has given her.
Published: 18/12/2024 9:00:00 a.m.
Christchurch Invitation - Ep 5: Jeremy Faumuinā – On honouring the spaces between us( 0:56:17)
Episode Information
"With the NZ Police Jeremy Faumuinā says, ""I get paid to care"" for youth and community. Working with people who ""haven't had encouragement"" he explores what success looks like for them. And that key concern: what world will our young people inherit?
His conviction is with the power of conversation (talanoa), of alofa (love and compassion), and with the Pasifika concept of the Vā – on common ground and the ""betweenness"" of spaces. His platform, ""Vā Concepts,"" draws on his own Samoan heritage."
Published: 4/12/2024 9:00:00 a.m.
Christchurch Invitation - Ep 1: Sara Qasem - Speaking past labels( 0:51:4)
Episode Information
The past does not define us but it shapes and lives on. Sara Qasem is a poet, a high school teacher; someone who responds strongly to the flavours of her Palestinian heritage and her life here in New Zealand.
Her father, Abdelfattah Qasem, was killed in the March 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks. His continuing presence in her life comes through in the poems he shared with her and the values she speaks to.
Published: 8/10/2024 1:00:00 p.m.