In a closing event streamed online on Friday, Human Initiative President Tomy Hendrajati said the program went successfully, with 232,592 families worldwide becoming beneficiaries of the qurban.

Throughout its Qurban Week 2021 program, Human Initiative distributed meat from 6,405 animals through 2,529 volunteers, covering 21 provinces and eight countries, including Ethiopia, Tanzania, Palestine, Syria, Uganda, Somalia and Myanmar.

“Maybe for us city dwellers, eating meat is nothing unusual. For some residents in rural villages eating meat becomes a luxury. The helping hand of our initiators have provided these families with joy and happiness,” he said.

M. Miftahul Surur, Human Initiative Qurban Project Manager said that the planning process had started in March but was hampered by the rise in COVID-19 cases following the month of Ramadan, with the peak nearing Idul Adha.

“In this situation, we still would like to facilitate our patrons in distributing their qurban through Human Initiative, while at the same time the peak [of COVID-19 cases] happened during our distribution process, so for the most part, our project managers never met directly with our volunteers and patrons,” he said.

According to Surur, there was a lot more enthusiasm for sharing, despite the pandemic, with a rough estimate of approximately 10 percent growth compared to the qurban of the previous year.

“This is truly an amazing phenomenon, because even though they are affected by the pandemic, they still possess the spirit to share and give. We’ve also heard stories from our farmer partners who also share the happiness, as they were given the chance to sell their livestock to alleviate their economic woes during PPKM,” he said.

After the success of Qurban Week 2021, Human Initiative will continue running programs related to COVID-19 relief, alongside regular programs like training sessions and children’s education.

“We’re still facing a daunting challenge, with high infection and hospital occupancy rates. [...] We’ve spoken with our frontliners who drive the Aman COVID cars, driving patients for their appointments. There’s a very high demand for the service, with around 40 calls in one day,” Tomy explained, noting that Human Initiative was offering the service in Java, in particular in Semarang, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Greater Jakarta, with a total of six fleets at the ready

“We also would like to provide support for people working in the informal sector as well as for our initiators who have been affected by COVID-19, whether through short-term relief like basic needs or long-term programs to help them get back on their feet.”.

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