The road to Mecca is long and winding<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung<\/p>\n
Going on the haj pilgrimage was a luxury for Omoh, 76, a poor
\nmidwife living in a hilly area of the Sindanglaya hamlet, some 10
\nkilometers east of Bandung city. In her years, Omoh has passed
\nover hundreds of kilometers of rocky roads to provide midwifery
\nservices for women, a job she has been doing since 1975.<\/p>\n
\"After the hard work, I am disappointed to hear stories in the
\nmedia that haj money has been embezzled. I have earned the money
\nfrom working hard, and now I find out that some of my money has
\nbeen stolen,\" said Omoh while sitting in front of her decrepit
\nstilt wooden house. Omoh was commenting on investigations into
\nhigh ranking officials at the Ministry of Religious Affairs,
\nincluding former minister Said Agil Al-Munawar, who are being
\nquestioned about the misuse of haj funds. The investigation has
\nhinted that the corruption has taken place systematically for
\nmany years.<\/p>\n
Omoh revealed that she went on the pilgrimage in 1994 after 19
\nyears of hard work.<\/p>\n
Speaking to The Jakarta Post, she said she started her
\nmidwifery career in 1975 after she divorced from her husband. She
\nhad to raise her six children alone following the divorce. She
\nearned Rp 10,000 (US$1) per birth as a midwife and because the
\namount of money was so small she had to do a side job providing
\nmassage services.<\/p>\n
She got recieved Rp 1,000 per customer for each massage
\nservice.<\/p>\n
\"It is not easy job. I had to walk many kilometers to reach
\npatient's houses because there were no motorcycles at that time.
\nThere were no street lights so that I had to use a torch,\" said
\nOmoh. If rain fell, Omoh had to use a banana leaf to stop from
\ngetting soaked.<\/p>\n
As part of her effort to save up more money Omoh bought goat.
\nShe bred from the goat, selling offspring and using the proceeds
\nto buy land. \"After 17 years, the amount land reached one
\nhectare,\" said Omoh.<\/p>\n
She sold the land and used the money to finance her trip to
\nMecca in 1994. \"I got Rp 35 million from the land sale. Some Rp
\n10 million I used to finance my trip to Mecca and the rest I
\nspent on family expenses including children's school fees,\" she
\nsaid. She performed her haj pilgrimage between April 16 and May
\n27 in 1994.<\/p>\n
Omoh was proud that she could finally go to Mecca, although
\nshe admitted that after she had sold the land, she had no money
\nleft over.<\/p>\n
She recalled that she was glad that after so many years that
\nthe corruption in the Ministry of Religious Affairs Office has
\nbeen exposed. But, at the same time, she was also upset knowing
\nthat the corruption practices had been going on for years and
\nthat she was one of the victims.<\/p>\n
\"These officials have no heart. The billions of rupiah of
\nstate money should have been given to poor people,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Only not only Omoh, but there are probably hundreds of
\nthousands of others out there who have endured the same fate as
\nOmoh. They have worked hard and saved a lot to allow them to go
\nto Mecca, as the Koran encourages them to do, but in the end some
\nof their hard-earned money is embezzled by religious officials.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-road-to-mecca-is-long-and-winding-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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