Bariz Shah and Saba Afrasyabi will never forget the Christchurch terror attack of March 15, 2019 when 51 people from their close-knit Muslim community were slain as a lone terrorist gunman opened fire at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre.’
At the time, both Bariz and Saba were praying at the nearby University of Canterbury Musallah.
“It was a normal Friday prayer,” tells Bariz, 29, who was studying civil engineering. “I was standing in the second row. As we finished, I saw the guy behind and his face was void of colour. He was looking at his phone murmuring about a shooting. I thought, ‘It must be someone playing a prank – this can’t be real.’”
As news updates started reporting the death toll and Bariz was forced to confront the awful reality, his first thoughts instantly turned to his wife Saba.
“He told me to stay inside the university library for my safety because I visibly looked Muslim,” recalls Saba, 28, who wears a hijab head covering.
Both had always dreamed of making a difference in the world through humanitarian work. They were volunteers for World Vision and the Red Cross.
But as Bariz assisted in burying the victims, including two young boys, Hamza and Sayyad, whom he had been mentoring, he knew there was no time to waste.
“That was a very spiritual moment, thinking, ‘What have I done with my life? How many people have I impacted? And if I was to be in the position of these young people being buried, what had I achieved?’”
Together, they decided to honour the 51 martyrs by crowdfunding to launch 51 microbusinesses in their ancestral homeland of Afghanistan – and that they would film it all for a just-released documentary Project Fiftyone.
“There were people who told us Afghanistan is the most dangerous country for journalists, but we were 100 percent sure and our energy was amazing,” shares Saba, whose parents fled from Afghanistan to Pakistan during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s before her birth. Bariz was born in Pakistan and immigrated to New Zealand with his family when he was seven.
Both have travelled to Afghanistan over the years. However, there were still plenty of hurdles to overcome, like unreliable GPS directions leading them astray, relationship strains, security concerns and a huge sense of responsibility to improve others’ lives and not waste the money they had raised.
“It was a huge challenge, for sure,” admits Bariz. “We were first-time filmmakers, so sometimes we’d forget to press record or the audio wasn’t on.”
But everyone they met during the 2019 trip inspired them to keep going. Like Marzia, who lost her husband in a bomb blast at the local mosque as he prayed.
Explains Saba, “Her energy was absolutely positive. Even with her circumstances, still she was standing strong for her children and hopeful.”
For Bariz, one young man, Naeem, who was living with his unwell father in a tiny, one-room home, made a lasting impact.
“We felt so sad leaving that house,” he tells. “You could see the despair on his face. We supported him to have a karachi [street cart] selling hair products. Two weeks later when I saw him in the marketplace, his whole demeanour had changed.
“When I asked how he was, he said with a smile, ‘Praise be to God, I’m doing well,’ and you could see he had hope for his future.
“We felt so humbled. We came with $20,000, which shared for 51 people is not much at all. But, the reaction from all of them was that it changed the trajectory of their family’s life. Actually, it changed Saba and I more than what we brought to them.”
In 2023, Bariz returned to Afghanistan and was delighted to see how the people they assisted were now thriving.
“One guy we had helped set up selling chips outside a school,” he remembers. “When I saw him this time, he had a dairy – an actual store. It was so impressive. He said to me, ‘Next time you see me, I’ll have a supermarket,’ and I totally believe him!”
Now parents to Zawrez, four, and Aaalam, two, Bariz and Saba are an impressive team. They’re already dreaming up their next documentary plans.
“I feel so blessed to have Bariz in my life and that we both want to connect to God,” enthuses Saba.
Smiling at his wife, Bariz is quick to respond, “I get my inspiration from Saba – she has a very beautiful heart.”
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