The Ex-Con Who Became NZ's Most Unlikely Changemaker

Bariz Shah is a husband and father, an engineer and a community leader. He was named 2021 Muslim New Zealander of the Year and he is also the author of a great book called Beyond Hope.

But before all of this, he was a convicted criminal who was sentenced to 3 years and 2 months in jail.

This podcast is a small part of his story.

The story of a kid who came to New Zealand as a refugee, went completely off the rails as a teenager – eventually ending up in prison at 18 – and has managed to do a full 180 and completely turn his life around.

Bariz opens up about growing up between Afghanistan, Pakistan and New Zealand, dealing with abuse and identity struggles, and how that led him down an incredibly negative path.

We talk about his self-destructive spiral which ended up with time in prison. And the moment he decided he was never going back.

We also get into how he rebuilt his life from scratch… studying engineering, finding his faith, and eventually launching a project to honour the victims of the Christchurch Mosque attacks.

There’s a lot in this one: redemption, forgiveness, discipline, faith… and some pretty confronting stories along the way.

This is Bariz Shah.

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