Welcome to our memorial page. On November 29, 2014 we lost a family. We hope by visiting this site, and by making a donation to Nellie’s, you can honour Zahra, Faris and Zain and ensure a legacy of peace.
At school, the weeks and months pass and we go on with our lessons. Teachers and students do our best- to deal with the sadness left by the boys’ empty seats, and to accept that Faris and Zain will never finish school and will never grow to be the wonderful men and citizens they could have been.
We are devastated, we are shocked. We want to know why this happened and how to stop such a thing from ever happening again. We expect to go home and be safe and now we see that home is not always a safe place.
At Westwood we plan a project and will each make a bracelet. The colours we decide on are symbolic: green is our school colour, white stands for peace and yellow reminds us of Faris’s bright smiling face. That is what we remember about Faris: his smile.
We stick a peace charm on each bracelet and decide that if we sell the bracelets, we could raise awareness about domestic violence and give the money to a place that helps people who don’t feel safe at home.
As we remember Zahra, Faris and Zain, and as we learn what we can do to recognize, prevent and stop violence against mothers and children, we see it is possible for a tragic story to compel us toward more loving behaviour.
Zahra loved her boys, and in turn they grew up kind and strong.
Our community loved this family and wish they had been able to find safety. In their honour, we have made these bracelets and we donate the proceeds of their sale to Nellie’s. In turn, we hope to support the work Nellie’s does to help women and children in need. In that way, we remember Zahra, Faris and Zain and the love that can sustain us all. Please click here to support Nellie’s work.
A MESSAGE FROM FARIS’S GRADE 8 CLASS:
Faris and Zain were both loving children. We remember them as always smiling. Zain wanted to be just like his older brother Faris, often copying his every move. Faris was always helpful around teachers and his peers. His lifelong friends remember what a fun kid he was even at a young age. He was a very active person, always playing soccer or running around! As a class last year we went on a little adventure to Withrow park and played manhunt. No one could ever catch him- he had amazing hiding spots and always found a way to get away from the people who were “it”.
Not everyone knew Faris was an outstanding artist. He loved drawing scenes from cartoons and really enjoyed graffiti art. His closest friends called him “Ferrari Faris” because of his true passion for cars and anything on wheels. In Grade 7 Faris had short hair and a pair of sports goggles, but in Grade 8 he decided to pump up his style and grow out his hair and purchase a new pair of Ray Ban glasses. He was famous for his funky glasses! We miss our friend. Faris and Zain will always be in our hearts. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones.
