“With the meat, I will cook and make sate and other kinds of dishes,” said the elderly woman with a broad smile.

For Hatija and most local villagers, beef is a luxury they cannot afford. They rarely eat it.

“We eat meat only once a year, during Idul Adha,” said La Hamsa, a Labuan village administrative officer.

The joy of eating sate was also shared by Fariz, a six-year-old elementary school student in the same village. “I love eating beef and anytime we get qurban (sacrificial) meat, we make sate,” he said.

During this year’s Idul Adha festivities, Hatija, Fariz and other local families in Labuan received beef from humanity organization Human Initiative.

They were interviewed by Human Initiative team, and the interview was broadcast during the Senandung Insyallah Qurban dan Takbiran event on July 19, part of a series called Qurban Week 2021 held by Human Initiative.

Labuan village is one of the many remote or off-the-beaten-track areas targeted for Human Initiative meat distribution.

Other beneficiaries of Human Initiative meat distribution included those living in off-the-beaten track villages in Ambon, South Sulawesi, Buru Island, East Kalimantan and Bengkulu.

The virtual Qurban Week 2021, running from July 16 to July 23, featured a webinar, live qurban meat distribution, a live report on the preparation for the sacrifice in different regions and a discussion with influencers and experts.

The virtual Senandung Insyallah Qurban dan Takbiran itself was held on July 19, one day ahead of Idul Adha. It featured songs of praise presented by religious singer Opick, religious female singer Nada Sikkah and musician Dwiki Dharmawan, as well as tausiyah (calling on Muslims to observe Islam) to by Ustadz Hanan Attaki and Idul Adha Takbir.

Meyda Sefira who was the MC for the event said, “Our core program is tausiyah, which is expected to soften our hearts and enhance the spirit of sacrificing what we possess, which aims solely to enhance our degree of our taqwa (fear of Allah, love for Allah and self-restraint),” she said.

In his welcoming remarks during the event, Sri Adi Bramasetia, Vice President Resources of Human Initiative, said, “Insyaallah (God willing) qurban meat distribution will reach 10 countries, including Palestine, Syria, Tanzania, Myanmar and the Philippines.

“We will also distribute the qurban meat to Indonesia’s most remote and outermost areas, including Seram Island in North Maluku regency where its inhabitants are fishermen who rarely eat beef,” he said.

“Offering sacrifices can bring us closer to Allah SWT because the meaning of qurban is being close.”

He noted that Idul Adha festivities were being held amid the pandemic for the second year but “with tight health protocols, like we did last year, hopefully we can be closer to Allah SWT. Being closer to God will enhance our degree [of faith] and [alow us to] become people with taqwa and receive ridho (blessings) from Allah SWT,” he said.

In a live broadcast, a representative from Maluku’s Human Initiative branch office said that to comply with the health protocols, only those assigned to slaughter animals were allowed to enter the animal slaughtering arena, while local villagers waited outside and maintained their distance from each other.

On Idul Adha, qurban meat was distributed to at least 1,000 beneficiaries from three remote villages in Bengkulu.

 “At least 53 cows were slaughtered in Seram and [their meat was] distributed to about 7,000 beneficiaries from 10 local remote villages,” said a representative from the Seram Human Initiative branch office.

Several outermost villages in Ambon and Buru Island received 100 cows respectively. “The beneficiaries are those living in Karanjaya, Jamilu and Batubui,” said a representative from Human Initiative Maluku branch office.

Qurban Human Initiative 2021 project manager Muhammad Miftahul Surur said earlier that the program had set a target of 25,000 people offering sacrifices from across Indonesia and several regions in other countries.

Sacrifices would be distributed to disaster-prone regions, 3T (outermost, frontline and disadvantaged) regions and human crisis regions, said Miftahul Surur.

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