One family's emotional Christmas reunion amid celebration at Manchester Airport
25.12.2023 - 18:27
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Amid the sea of Santa hats and Christmas jumpers in arrivals at Manchester Airport, a family stands out as they clutch colourful garlands of flowers. It’s Christmas Eve and they’re welcoming parents and siblings back from Saudia Arabia, who have been away from home for nine days completing the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.
“We’re really excited to welcome them back, going on pilgrimage is an achievement,” shares Waleed Zulfiqar, 31.
“We give these garlands whenever there’s something to celebrate, we actually picked them up from Pakistan because you can’t really get them in England.”
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Waleed, from Atherton, is just like so many family members waiting on loved ones arriving back home for Christmas in Manchester Airport. He’s a new(ish) dad to a two-year-old daughter ‘that explains the bags under my eyes’, he jokes.
And, with garlands in one hand and a bag of ice in the other, he’s a typical brother. Pilgrimage or not, he takes a moment to give his brother a little stick.
“The pilgrimage means you’re doing about 30,000 steps, and my brother is quite lazy normally, it’s clearly done a bit of damage," says Waleed.
“He called ahead and asked me to bring him frozen peas. Where am I going to get those in an airport? I’ve settled for ice, but I looked a bit weird asking for a bag of ice from Starbucks!”
And this family aren’t just marking the moment their loved ones return from Mecca, they’re also looking forward to gathering together for Christmas – even though they don’t celebrate the day in the traditional Christian sense.
“We don’t celebrate