The road to Mecca is long and winding

The road to Mecca is long and winding

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung

Going on the haj pilgrimage was a luxury for Omoh, 76, a poor
midwife living in a hilly area of the Sindanglaya hamlet, some 10
kilometers east of Bandung city. In her years, Omoh has passed
over hundreds of kilometers of rocky roads to provide midwifery
services for women, a job she has been doing since 1975.

"After the hard work, I am disappointed to hear stories in the
media that haj money has been embezzled. I have earned the money
from working hard, and now I find out that some of my money has
been stolen," said Omoh while sitting in front of her decrepit
stilt wooden house. Omoh was commenting on investigations into
high ranking officials at the Ministry of Religious Affairs,
including former minister Said Agil Al-Munawar, who are being
questioned about the misuse of haj funds. The investigation has
hinted that the corruption has taken place systematically for
many years.

Omoh revealed that she went on the pilgrimage in 1994 after 19
years of hard work.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post, she said she started her
midwifery career in 1975 after she divorced from her husband. She
had to raise her six children alone following the divorce. She
earned Rp 10,000 (US$1) per birth as a midwife and because the
amount of money was so small she had to do a side job providing
massage services.

She got recieved Rp 1,000 per customer for each massage
service.

"It is not easy job. I had to walk many kilometers to reach
patient's houses because there were no motorcycles at that time.
There were no street lights so that I had to use a torch," said
Omoh. If rain fell, Omoh had to use a banana leaf to stop from
getting soaked.

As part of her effort to save up more money Omoh bought goat.
She bred from the goat, selling offspring and using the proceeds
to buy land. "After 17 years, the amount land reached one
hectare," said Omoh.

She sold the land and used the money to finance her trip to
Mecca in 1994. "I got Rp 35 million from the land sale. Some Rp
10 million I used to finance my trip to Mecca and the rest I
spent on family expenses including children's school fees," she
said. She performed her haj pilgrimage between April 16 and May
27 in 1994.

Omoh was proud that she could finally go to Mecca, although
she admitted that after she had sold the land, she had no money
left over.

She recalled that she was glad that after so many years that
the corruption in the Ministry of Religious Affairs Office has
been exposed. But, at the same time, she was also upset knowing
that the corruption practices had been going on for years and
that she was one of the victims.

"These officials have no heart. The billions of rupiah of
state money should have been given to poor people," she said.

Only not only Omoh, but there are probably hundreds of
thousands of others out there who have endured the same fate as
Omoh. They have worked hard and saved a lot to allow them to go
to Mecca, as the Koran encourages them to do, but in the end some
of their hard-earned money is embezzled by religious officials.