This story was originally published on Stuff
Content warning: Mosque terrorist attack
When Rama Awad, 16, got home from school last week, her sister told her about a Dunedin schoolgirl and refugee who had been attacked on school grounds.
The attack was filmed, showing Hoda Al-Jamaa, 17, and her friends being approached by fellow students at Otago Girls’ High School.
When the Muslim girls refused to teach them swear words in Arabic, the other girls began to physically assault them – Al-Jamaa’s hijab was forcibly removed in the process.
Al-Jamaa was later taken to Dunedin Hospital with bruises on her face.
Before then, neither Rama nor her sister Noora Awad, 24, had heard of a fellow hijabi – a Muslim woman who wears hijab – being attacked at a New Zealand school. It was one attack too many.
They said it took their minds to dark places. They thought of the 2019 terrorist attack in Christchurch, and of how the country came together to support the Muslim community, then slowly forgot about fighting Islamophobia.
“How can this happen in New Zealand, in 2022? Why isn't the school saying something? How had nothing happened? We needed the world to know,” Noora Awad said.
In a matter of days – along with friends and fellow hijabi Batoul Al Naimi, 19, and Petra Khan, 28 – they launched the #JusticeForHuda campaign. Huda is an alternative English spelling of Hoda.
They launched a petition, which has received 73,000 signatories.
Rama was the author behind the initial Instagram post that has now been liked and shared by thousands, including global supermodel Bella Hadid.
“We didn't know Hoda before the attack ... but she could have been any of us. We had to do something, otherwise what if it happens again?”
Al-Jamaa and her friends stopped going to school for a few days following the attack, fearful for their safety.
“How is it fair that the girls feel unsafe when they go to school? Why should they be punished?” Awad said.
The campaigners wanted the school to take leadership and call the attack Islamophobic. They wanted the school to educate their pupils about the religion and why some people wear hijab, and they wanted the girls who attacked Al-Jamaa and her friends expelled.
On Monday, Stuff revealed two girls involved in the attack had been expelled. Otago Girls’ High School has been approached for comment.
“They need to show us there is no place for racism in their school,” Awad said.
Batoul Al Naimi: ‘You feel the energy’
It’s Al Naimi’s third year of being in New Zealand, and first as a nursing student in Wellington.
The 19-year-old refugee is Syrian, but spent the previous decade of her life in Jordan with whānau waiting for asylum.
Once in New Zealand, she was the only Muslim at her school. Her hijab, which was a big source of pride for her, became just one more thing that made her different.
“In the classroom, during breaks, on public transport ... no-one would come and talk to me. No-one wanted to sit beside me,” she said.
“You feel the energy. You always feel it. It's not bullying, but you know they've seen the media, the movies ... they have an idea that if you cover your hair, you're not a good person.”
There was a pressure to smile, to always look happy. She said you could never have a bad day as a hijabi, or be sad that you feel alone, because it could confirm a stereotype.
“I worked at the hospital as a food server. Some patients say they don't want me to serve them food. I understand that. I just want people to accept me.”
Petra Khan: ‘School needs to be a safe environment’
Khan migrated to New Zealand with her family from the United Kingdom. Now 28, she has three daughters and is months away from finishing a teaching qualification in Hamilton.
“Schools have a responsibility to educate our children. Otago Girls’ High School needs to take responsibility,” she said.
At the same time, she felt Muslims had a responsibility to take any chance they had to educate others about why they wear hijab.
“The campaign is so [what happened to Hoda] will never happen again. We had to catch it while people were talking about it, just in case other people have ideas about how we dress, just in case there were copycats.
“To me, wearing a hijab is about what Islam teaches us, on a personal level. It’s about our identity, how we belong to a particular place, mentally. You've always at home no matter where you are because you represent.
“Though when I’m in public, I think people think I’m a nun.”
Khan said one of the most important things teachers learn while studying was that school needed to be a safe environment for everyone, and children learnt best when they could be themselves and were comfortable.
Rama and Noora Awad: ‘Hoda was yesterday. It could be me today’
Rama and Noora Awad came to New Zealand eight years ago as refugees from Syria.
Noora Awad said when she began Wellington Girls’ College, the school had made a point to teach her new classmates about why she was there and why she wore a hijab.
“Because of this awareness, they accepted us. Befriended us. A group of students came over to us and shared their support.
“It's why I believe the school has a responsibility to teach young people how they can make relationships with people from different nations. New Zealand is a small country with few Muslims ... fewer hijabi. When they see a hijab, know she is a good girl, not a terrorist.”
Life outside of school was very different. Rama remembered being in a car with her whānau and pulling up to an intersection. A person in a car driving the opposite way yelled “f*ck you and your hijabs” as they passed. It was just one of countless times strangers had shouted at them.
And yet, when Rama became of age to start wearing hijab, she put it on, despite the abuse she knew she could receive.
“It empowers me. In a society where the majority of people aren't Muslim, I’m proud to be representing my religion and culture. It makes me want to be the best version of myself,” she said.
“You can feel the vibe that you are different and don't fit in. They just don’t say it out loud.
“Hoda was yesterday. It could be me today.”
