An Emotional Reunion between Christchurch Attack Survivor and her Unknown Saviour

It was a heartfelt moment for a woman when she finally met a noblewoman who helped her escape the Christchurch shootings. It was during that horrific incident when Jennifer Paterson bundled Majda El Hajji and her five-month-old baby into her car as the Christchurch shootings unfolded.
It was an emotional moment for Majda who was able to track Jennifer after that horrific incident. Now, Majda has got a long-term good friend in Jennifer. On that dreadful day, Majda and Jennifer spent nearly six hours sheltering together. However, they both were under so much trauma and pain and forgot to exchange details before they parted. Majda, who lost her father-in-law in the shooting, wanted to track down Jennifer and wish to thank her for all her help and heroism.

Who is Mrs Jennifer Paterson?

Mrs Paterson, a food worker and nearby resident of Al Noor Mosque, was running late to her home from work on Friday 15. Usually, she reaches her home from the work before Friday prayers. In some time, she found herself driving into the chaos near the mosque. As she was passing through the chaos, she saw Majda and her baby. Without wasting any time and thinking twice about the situation, she immediately got Majda El Hajji and her five-month-old baby into her car. Later, she tried to drove them to a safe place. For Mrs Paterson, it was about Majda and her baby and not about her.
As the situation got tensed, Mrs Paterson picked up two more women and a young boy and helped them to flee away from the attack. In this whole chaos, the young boy got separated from his father. To control the situation and cordoned-off the whole area, the roadblocks were erected, and she had to drove the car into a cul-de-sac and waited. In the meantime, Mrs Paterson received help from a woman who gave all of them shelter in her house. It was in the 7.30 PM when all of them were able to leave, as the cordon was lifted.

Ms El Hajji Loses her Father-in-Law

As Majda El Hajji was moving away from the scene, she became aware of the fact that her father-in-law had been shot dead. However, she was more worried about her husband who was there in the mosque. She was not able to contact him as she left her phone in the mosque.

They Parted Ways

As the situation became tenser in the night, both Mrs Paterson and Ms Hajji parted ways. Neither they were able to exchange the numbers not know each other names.

The Re-union

It was after two days of the attack Ms Hajji thought of Mrs Paterson and wanted to thank her for saving her and her baby’s life. It was Ms Hajji’s sister-in-law Faiza Abdukadir who approached the ABC and sought help in tracking down Mrs Paterson.
Finally, the reunion took this week when Mrs Paterson’s boss read the story about this quest and realised it must be his employee. There were hugs, there were tears and there were flowers when these two finally reunited.