Hidayatullah isn't just a school for orphans

Hidayatullah isn't just a school for orphans

BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan (JP): Hundreds of orphans live and
learn at the Hidayatullah boarding school in Gunung Tembak,
Kalimantan for free.

This separates this boarding school from the other 6,000 in
Indonesia.

"There are heaps of neglected orphans and school drop-outs
here," explained Abdullah Said, the headmaster and founder of
Hidayatullah, "The government already has its hands full with
many other problems, this falls into the realm of community
responsibility."

Meeting the daily needs and the other problems of thousands of
students and teachers at 75 branches of the school throughout the
country is not easy.

At the Gunung Tembak school alone, the 2,000 students consume
about one ton of rice every two days.

Hasan Ibrahim, the school's manager, appears calm and
confident. "Whoever helps Allah will get Allah's help," he quoted
a Koranic verse.

He pointed out that the locals usually help the school out,
because they appreciate that it accepts and educates orphans and
neglected children.

"Unless these children are well taken care of, they may become
a problem for the community," Hasan told The Jakarta Post. "Here,
they are trained to be self-reliant, independent and to become
pioneers in society."

"Many a great man was an orphan," he assured.

Realizing that they couldn't always rely on people's sympathy,
the boarding school's managers began to establish various
business units to support the institutions.

In Balikpapan alone, the school has two general trade and
contractor businesses. "When we started, we suffered one
financial loss after another," Adi Dharma Yudi, a former student
who manages the companies, said. "But we learned from our
mistakes."

The companies have now been doing business with some foreign
oil companies in the area, including Vico, Unocal and Total
Indonesie.

In Tarakan, an island in the north of East Kalimantan, a
branch of the Hidayatullah school has a 7-hectare fishpond, and a
plantation of salak (Zalacca fruits).

The Surabaya-branch of Hidayatullah is considered to be the
most advanced in business establishment. It has printing shops, a
publishing house, an expedition service, a door-to-door marketing
service and an advertising, graphic design and architecture
consultant firm. A great number of former students are also
studying at leading universities in the city.

The Surabaya-branch also publishes the Suara Hidayatullah
monthly magazine which specializes in analysis on Islamic
development both local and worldwide. Its circulation is now
65,000.

The Jakarta-branch of the school has established a bakery and
a halal fried chicken restaurant. It also established a haj
operation last year which cooperates with Al-Hussam, a well-known
pilgrimage arranger.

According to Abdullah Said, a common feature of the businesses
is "to support the dakwah (Islamic calling) movement, and to call
on the community to shoulder the great responsibility". (Wisnu
Pramudya)

-- Wisnu Pramudya