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.