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ACTNews, JAKARTA - After undergoing medical treatments in Jakarta for a
month, Muhammad Rifqi (12), a boy suffering from heart valve disease, will
return to his hometown in Bireuen on Saturday (9/26). There were no more
bandages on his chest. The plaster that covered the medical suture had also
been removed. Rifqi was smiling brightly as his recovery began.
Rifqi arrived in
Jakarta on August 13 from Bireuen, Aceh. It was the second time he came to
Jakarta for his treatments. He was diagnosed with a congenital heart disease and
had to undergo surgery.
This was not
easy for Rifqi and his family because they have been living in poverty. Each cent
that Rifqi’s parents saved wasn’t enough for his treatments. Fadhil and
Nurwaida work as farmers in other people’s farms where they receive half of
the crops during harvest seasons. For extra income, Rifqi’s father Fadhil also
sells the produce of his garden. The earning isn’t much, but it is the best
they can do.
Fadhil met
volunteers from Masyarakat Relawan Indonesia (MRI) Biruen. They agreed to
support Rifqi’s treatments through the Mobile Social Rescue (MSR) programs.
While Rifqi’s medical expenses were covered by the national insurance, the
costs for transportation, food, and accommodation both in Jakarta and Bireun
were covered by the MSR program from the funds that were raised through
Kitabisa.com as well as Global Zakat’s zakat funds.
Program
Coordinator of MSR – Global Zakat Nurjannatunaim revealed, the success of
Rifqi's surgery was inseparable from the community's zakat funds that were
managed by Global Zakat for the MSR program, a program that serves to provide
medical assistance for the economically underprivileged.
The zakat funds
from the community are also used for the Sahabat Guru Indonesia program that
has been running for a year. The program that was launched in the National
Teachers’ Day in 2019 serves to provide food aid and training to
underprivileged honorary teachers. To date, around 5,000 teachers across 30
provinces have benefitted from this program through the provision of financial
assistance and training from the experts in education.
Riski Andriana of
Global Zakat - ACT said that, in the field of education, the zakat funds are
used not only to provide assistance to the teachers, but also to renovate schools,
distribute food packages for students, and to support Muslim preachers in remote
areas of Indonesia.
"The
benefits of zakat funds are massive. They reach the remote areas of Indonesia
as well as other countries suffering from humanitarian crises,” explained
Riski.
The benefits of
zakat funds indeed reach other countries, such as the Humanity Food Truck
managed by Global Zakat – ACT that operates in Palestine to provide thousands
of meal packages from the zakat funds.
MSR, Sahabat
Guru Indonesia, and the Humanity Food Truck in Jakarta only reflects a small
fraction of the blessing of Zakat. Global Zakat – ACT opens an opportunity for
everyone to donate their zakat, especially zakat-ul-mal. On its website, Global
Zakat also provides a feature to help calculate how much zakat one has to pay.
"Zakat is
usually synonymous with Ramadan, especially zakat-ul-fitr. However, every
Muslim is also obliged to pay for zakat-ul-mal from the assets that they have.
To help them calculate how much of the zakat they have to pay, we have a zakat
calculator feature on Global Zakat website. You can also reach Global Zakat
through its social media accounts," concluded Riski. []
