Breaking of the fast en masses eases burdens

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Sapto Hadi had spent his entire morning looking for a job. Holding a bachelor's degree in management from a university in the capital, he has been trying his luck from one office to another in the past year but to no avail.

Since Ramadhan started, each day at about 1 p.m., he goes to the Istiqlal Grand Mosque in Central Jakarta to pray and rest.

"I just submitted my application to a trading company not far from here and I got rejected. I'm tired physically because I'm fasting and I'm tired (of being turned down), so I usually come here. Besides, I have nothing else to do," the 27-year-old man told The Jakarta Post recently.

Sapto said he could not go straight home in Cilandak, South Jakarta, because his parents would have asked him the same question "Have you got a job yet?".

"I'd rather stay here, waiting for the time to break the fast. I enjoy the meals provided by the mosque. They have been serving meals for free since the beginning of the fasting month," he said.

Tiwi, a 17-year-old street vendor, also came to the mosque to rest and wait for the breaking of the fast.

"It's was a tough day. I could only sell few boxes of tissues today and people don't buy cigarettes, maybe because they are fasting," she said.

Although she was not fasting, Tiwi and other vendors usually joined the fasting Muslims during the breaking of the fast. "Ramadhan is the happiest month because we don't have to buy dinner."

The mosque management has been providing meals for fasting Muslims for more than 25 years.

"Around 2,500 people come to the mosque every day and we try to provide them meals to break their fast. The mosque's lower floor is used to break the fast," Wahyono, one of the staff, told the Post.

Most meals are provided by donors including the daughter of former president Soeharto, Siti Hardijanti Hastuti or "Tutut". The family has been donating meals during Ramadhan since 1978 after the completion of the mosque.

"Every day Ibu Tutut sends around 1,500 boxes of meals. The remaining 1,000 boxes of meals come from other donors and from our own budget," Wahyono said.

As the sun goes down, more people -- taxi drivers, office employees, students and the jobless -- start to fill the mosque.

Hot drinks such as coffee, tea and milk are distributed as well as meals. Although the people come from many different levels of society, one thing unites them.

When the bedug drum is sounded for the Maghrib dusk prayer, the mosque visitors, rich or poor, gratefully accept the food and drink.