BERISI Provides Food for Pesantrens in Greater Malang Area

ACTNews, MALANG - Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT) Malang held another humanitarian action for those in need. This time, the team delivered rice to Mansyaul Ulum Islamic Boarding School, Ganjaran Village, Gondanglegi Subdistrict, Malang Regency, last Thursday (11/7). The rice delivery is part of the Rice for Indonesian Santri (BERISI) program for Greater Malang area.

Head of Mansyaul Ulum Islamic Boarding School Kyai Syaiful Razi expressed his gratitude to the generous donors of Indonesia and ACT for the rice aid for the students in the boarding school. The rice assistance will greatly benefit the large number of santris there.

"At Mansyaul Ulum Islamic Boarding School, we have around 600 students. Around 70% of them are from the lower economic class. For the tuition fee, we didn’t force them to pay it. Therefore, the assistance that ACT provided, Alhamdulillah, really helped this boarding school," said Kyai Syaiful.

Food availability is not the only problem in Mansyaul Ulum Islamic Boarding School. The students and teachers in this boarding school have also been experiencing water shortage. The water from the regional drinking water company (PDAM) is not enough.

An ACT volunteer is loading the rice packages onto the truck. (ACTNews / Eka Kartika Ayu)

Besides Mansyaul Ulum Islamic Boarding School, ACT also distributed rice aid to pesantrens of South Malang, one of them is Darul Hikam Islamic Boarding School in Srigonco Village, Bantur Subddistrict. This pesantren also does not require the students to pay for tuition fee. The management hopes that Darul Hikam Islamic Boarding School can be a safeguard of Islamic moral values in the South Malang area.

ACT Malang Branch Manager Diki Taufik Sidik explained that the BERISI program is targeting pesantrens that continue to educate their students despite limitations such as inadequate facilities and food shortage.

"Our target is pesantrens that have not been empowered: those Islamic boarding schools that have only limited infrastructure, limited amount of food, and the pesantrens that house orphaned and underprivileged students," said Diki.

There are still many pesantrens in Greater Malang area that meet these criteria. Diki hoped that the BERISI program could meet the food needs of the students and inspire philanthropists to care more for the santris across Indonesia.

"The BERISI program is expected to be an inspiration for all people to take part in providing solutions to this problem. Moreover, there are still many pesantrens that cannot meet their basic needs, so they still need help especially in terms of food. We realize that santris are the successors of prophets and scholars," concluded Diki. []