To date, 15 students have received a share of $90,000 from the Datacom Foundation to support their tertiary studies.

Tertiary courses being studied by the funding recipients include law, chemistry, geology, electrical engineering, medicine and surgery, arts, tourism, oral health therapy, sports coaching, data science and software engineering.

“It is great to see our hopes for the Datacom Foundation being realised with this tangible support for people who were impacted by the attacks. It is a really diverse range of subjects being studied and our applicants are a mix of ages and genders,” says Datacom Foundation chair and co-founder Husain Al-Badry.

“Our team was looking for a way to provide meaningful, ongoing support that could help with the healing process for the families. We chose education because we believe that education is the antidote to everything that led to the March 15 attacks, which was hatred and ignorance, and the absence of empathy and understanding.”

Datacom Foundation chair and co-founder Husain Al-Badry
Datacom Foundation chair and co-founder Husain Al-Badry says the decision to channel support into funding tertiary studies is because education is the antidote to everything that led to the March 15 attacks, which was hatred and ignorance, and the absence of empathy and understanding. Foundation chair and co-founder Husain Al-Badry says the decision to channel support into funding tertiary studies is because education is the antidote to everything that led to the March 15 attacks, which was hatred and ignorance, and the absence of empathy and understanding.

Husain says it is a philosophy that several of Datacom’s partners and collaborators have got behind, including the team at the Foodstuffs (South Island) Community Trust who have contributed nearly $40,000 to support the education foundation.

The tertiary funding from the Datacom Foundation—Iqra Salam Te Aroha (Learn, Peace, Love) is available through an application-based process to anyone who had a parent or sibling who died in the attacks or was bullet-wounded, and there is no set age limit to qualify.

Datacom’s network of customers and collaborators is also helping provide another avenue of support for the families, in the form of job opportunities.

“A number of the families suffered the devastating loss of a loved one and then also found themselves trying to manage without their main breadwinner after the attacks. We’ve worked with some of the widows left behind — who may not have had local job experience or training — and helped them find jobs and open up career pathways for the future.”

Husain says the Datacom Foundation and the opportunities it is providing could not have been achieved without support from the wider Datacom whanau, its networks and Christchurch’s Muslim community including Dr Mohammad Alayan, who lost his son Atta in the attacks, and Maha Galal who this year was named as a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in recognition for her work supporting people impacted by the 15 March Mosque attacks.

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