Experience Serving Elderly Hajj Pilgrims: Smile More, Stay Quiet, and Be Patient

A warm greeting of “Welcome, sir, welcome, madam” repeatedly came from Namira Stasya amidst the arrival of Hajj pilgrims from flight group YIA 12 from Kebumen, Central Java, at Prince Mohammad bin Abdul Aziz Airport in Madinah on Tuesday evening. She seemed tireless in offering smiles to the pilgrims who were about to return to their homeland that night.

Namira, as she is familiarly called, frequently offered wheelchair assistance to elderly pilgrims who appeared exhausted. When a pilgrim accepted, she promptly fetched a wheelchair and helped them sit before pushing them to the airport waiting area.

“It happens that my background is in service, so I must smile at all times,” said Namira, recounting her easy adaptation process as a Hajj Organising Officer for the Elderly and Disabled sector at the airport.

She expressed gratitude for being assigned to the Elderly and Disabled service at the airport working area for approximately two months. According to her, the experience of being a Hajj officer cannot be adequately described with words. “Masya Allah, I am very grateful, it is very blissful, because we are in contact with elderly men and women. So it feels like I am serving my own parents, serving my own grandparents,” Namira said when met by Media Center Hajj reporters.

Moreover, Namira’s own parents are already elderly, making her interactions with the elderly pilgrims feel particularly profound. She felt no sorrow in being an officer for the elderly. “So far I have only felt joy, felt bliss. Because I genuinely enjoy serving them, and alhamdulillah they also want to interact with me, so alhamdulillah there is no sorrow,” said Namira.