"I look at this photo and see a new mother who was still battling with the idea of motherhood: 18 days postpartum is still so fresh. This impromptu lunch was on the way home from an appointment (ambitious with a newborn!), I remember the nerves I had sitting in the restaurant eating and worrying he would wake and scream. You can see the tired in my eyes: I should have been home trying to sleep! I guess part of me wanted to be able to do it all: pop out a baby and return to my normal life. I hadn't yet realised you needed to slow down and that taking care of a baby, as mundane as it gets at times, IS the most important work you can be doing. I didn't yet appreciate the sacredness of it all."

It hasn’t felt right being in this space since the terrorist attack in Christchurch – at least without talking about it. Time was needed to pray, to be with my people, to feel.
I held my son a lot, I felt privileged to have his warm body on mine.

My community has been told time and time again by politicians, the media and general public that we are not welcome here, we are the problem, that our faith is one of violence.

Through the lack of representation in media, advertising, literature (the list goes on) we have been told the world is not for us. We are not the target market. Or we are tokenized for profit when it suits them.

A power structure that actively tries to eradicate Aboriginal People from their land, dehumanizes Black people, criminalises & detains refugees and uses Islamophobia as an election winning strategy also promotes the separation of the mother – child dyad in the interests of capitalism.

A culture that normalizes the ability to ignore the cries of your newborn – their only form of communication – starts the process of dehumanization of all people from very early on.

Hold your babies and respond to them. Teach them to respect themselves and others.
This work is one of the most sincerest we can do.

#christchurch #holdthemclose