My Account
by Marie Anticich
A Wellsford mother and daughter attending a Christian conference in Auckland unexpectedly found themselves on a plane to Christchurch when news broke of the massacre there on March 15.
Sonia Aldom, a kindergarten teacher, and daughter Christina, a student nurse, were attending a Heidi Baker conference when details of the shootings at two mosques began to emerge.
When Ms Baker, who heads an organisation that runs orphanages in Mozambique, learned of the killings, she stopped the conference and asked everyone to pray.
She then encouraged anyone willing to go to Christchurch to help to do so.
Sonia and Christina decided they would heed the call and another conference attendee gave them money for airline tickets.
“We’d never met the person who gave us the airfare before, and we weren’t even sure what we were going to do in Christchurch,” Sonia says.
Christina (in pink headscarf) and Sonia (behind her) comfort some of the relatives of the survivors.
Arriving at Auckland Airport on Sunday afternoon, mother and daughter were put on stand-by as their flight was fully booked.
They sat in the airport lounge writing cards of condolence to give to people while waiting for the next flight.
“Three men noticed what we were doing and we struck up a conversation with them. These men were flying to Christchurch as part of a Muslim support team,” Sonia says.
A member of the team, Yalcin Solak, gave Sonia his business card and invited her and Christina to join their team at Christchurch Hospital the following morning.
On Monday morning, Sonia texted Mr Solak and they met at the hospital.
“Suddenly we found ourselves being taken onto a ward and ushered into victims’ rooms,” Sonia says.
She and Christina donned headscarves and hugged, commiserated and talked with shocked and grieving Muslim women.
They spoke to several gunshot victims, and two survivors who had escaped without injury – an elderly woman and a young father who told them their stories. The elderly woman had hidden under a table in one of the mosques.
Christina was taken into the room of a young male victim who was recounting his experience to friends sitting at his bedside.
“I shook the young man’s hand and said, ‘You are so brave. I’m so sorry for what happened.’ He said, ‘Thank you for supporting us.’”
A young father, who survived the attack, invited Sonia and Christina to dinner with his family, along with members of the Muslim support team.
“We felt humbled that this family graciously opened their home and hearts to us in the midst of their trauma,” Sonia says.
“They were very loving and thankful for our support and we felt honoured to be part of the support team.”
When Sonia and Christina returned to Auckland, the Muslim team leader invited them to speak at a support meeting in the city.
“We spoke words of peace and love, and I reminded the gathering that the first three words of our national anthem say, ‘God of nations’. New Zealand is a country of many nations, but we are one people,” Sonia says.
“We’ve made some valuable friendships and we’re keeping in touch.”
Sonia says she is grateful for the prayers and support of her church family at Christian Fellowship Wellsford.
