Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Indonesian haj pilgrims begin to depart for Saudi Arabia
| Tue, September 02 2014
Suwarni, a haj pilgrim from Surakarta, Central Java, said she was not concerned about the Ebola virus, MERS virus or even the expected extreme heat of Saudi Arabia.
She said she was determined to perform the haj pilgrimage this year, so she would neither burden her mind with worries nor cancel her journey.
?Making the haj has been my ambition. I?ve resigned my fate to God and hopefully God will bless me, so everything runs smoothly,? said the middle-aged woman.
Suwarni is one of the 1,125 haj pilgrims from Surakarta who joined the first group leaving for Mecca on Monday. The pilgrims left on three flights.
Around 170,000 Indonesians are set to fly to Saudi Arabia for the annual haj pilgrimage in the coming weeks, but few are aware of the potential threat of the Ebola virus, following the deaths of at least 1,500 people in western Africa over the past six months.
Meanwhile, Surakarta Health Office head Siti Wahyuningsih advised the pilgrims to be careful when interacting with other pilgrims during the haj, especially with pilgrims from Ebola-suspect countries.
According to Siti, it is advisable not to have direct human contact keeping in mind the absence of an anti-Ebola vaccination.
?Pilgrims have been administered with meningitis shots, provided with masks and vitamins. We hope a healthy body can minimize the spread of the Ebola virus,? said Siti.
More: Jakarta Post
| Tue, September 02 2014
Suwarni, a haj pilgrim from Surakarta, Central Java, said she was not concerned about the Ebola virus, MERS virus or even the expected extreme heat of Saudi Arabia.
She said she was determined to perform the haj pilgrimage this year, so she would neither burden her mind with worries nor cancel her journey.
?Making the haj has been my ambition. I?ve resigned my fate to God and hopefully God will bless me, so everything runs smoothly,? said the middle-aged woman.
Suwarni is one of the 1,125 haj pilgrims from Surakarta who joined the first group leaving for Mecca on Monday. The pilgrims left on three flights.
Around 170,000 Indonesians are set to fly to Saudi Arabia for the annual haj pilgrimage in the coming weeks, but few are aware of the potential threat of the Ebola virus, following the deaths of at least 1,500 people in western Africa over the past six months.
Meanwhile, Surakarta Health Office head Siti Wahyuningsih advised the pilgrims to be careful when interacting with other pilgrims during the haj, especially with pilgrims from Ebola-suspect countries.
According to Siti, it is advisable not to have direct human contact keeping in mind the absence of an anti-Ebola vaccination.
?Pilgrims have been administered with meningitis shots, provided with masks and vitamins. We hope a healthy body can minimize the spread of the Ebola virus,? said Siti.
More: Jakarta Post