Providing Qurban Meat To Those In Need
By Rosliwaty Ramly

 KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- Muslim Aid Asia (MAA), an international aid and development organisation, invites Muslims in the country to participate in "Qurban For Life" (Q4L) programme to help Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world who simply cannot afford to buy meat.

 The Q4L programme initiated 18 years ago by Muslim Aid network distributes meat to almost every part of the poor, drought-stricken and war-torn places in Muslim world such as Afghanistan, Africa, Indonesia, Iraq, Kashmir and Palestine. It even distributed Qurban meat to the Malaysian hardcore poor.

QURBAN MEAT... Slaughtering of sheep is done at the Fletcher International Exports, Albany, Perth, Australia before being shipped to Pertima factory in Terengganu for processing. Pix: Bernama

With the theme `Offerings From Malaysians to the World Society', MAA distributed Qurban meat efficiently to the global Muslim society in accordance with Islamic obligation.

 Based in Kuala Lumpur, Muslim Aid has a network of offices that generate funding in London, Munich and Sydney. It also has offices in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Iraq. It has established close cooperation with non-governmental organisations (NGO) in Nigeria, Cameroon, Iran, Cambodia, Thailand and China to arrange and provide aid.

 MAA director Wan Rusli Wan Muda who is in charge of the programme explained that it's the best method to assist Muslims in performing Qurban and most importantly to ensure that their Qurban or donation actually reaches the target group, the poor and destitute.

 He said the Muslim Aid network started to donate canned sacrificial meat since 1989 where the slaughtering of sacrificial animals are carried out at established facilities approved by the Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM) and the Australian Federation of Islamic Council.

 Slaughtering were carried out at chosen halal-certified facilities and most of the livestock were sourced from Muslim Aid's own farms, he explained.

 "What MAA did was interesting because the canned Qurban meat is ready-to-eat and has longer shelf life. This would enable us to send the meat to poverty-stricken Muslims around the world," he said. Canned meat is the best method when it comes to sending the sacrificial meat to poor regions that lack the basic infrastructure such as electricity, said Wan Rusli.

 He said MAA also distributes frozen meat where it's possible so that recipients could use fresh meat for food preparation.

 Normally, the needy can only enjoy the meat during Aidiladha and sometime it ends up wasted because of oversupply and the lack of proper storage facilities.

 MAA's Qurban concept won't affect food stocks and supply because the distribution was not restricted to a certain time frame, he said.

THE BENEFIT OF QURBAN MEAT

 Through Q4L programme, those who are interested in performing the religious obligation can donate RM350 for one sheep and the cost includes slaughtering, processing, distribution and delivery of the meat to the targeted groups.

 A sheep can be processed into 24 cans of meat each weighing 454gm and one can is enough to feed a family of five at a time.

 "This means that with one sheep, we can feed more than 100 people. Last season, a total of 3,000 sheep were slaughtered at Fletcher International Exports, Albany, Perth, Australia and two containers of frozen meat weighing 33,000 kg were sent to Pertima factory in Terengganu to be processed," he added.

QURBAN CONTRIBUTION

 According to the report by World Food Programme, one in every seven people in the world live in hunger while 24,000 people die every day due to hunger. Ironically, this phenomenon happens in Muslim-majority countries where war or natural disaster occurred.

 Wan Rusli said during the 1427H season, at least 500,000 needy Muslims all over the world benefitted from the Qurban donation.

 For the upcoming Aidiladha, slaughtering is expected to be carried out from 20 to 23 December 2007 at facilities approved by JAKIM. Cooking and canning process would be done at Muslim-owned factories before shipping to the chosen destination.

WHY AUSTRALIA

 Wan Rusli explained for the time being the slaughtering process are being carried out in Australia with the meat frozen and sent to Malaysia for canning process.

 When asked why slaughter in Australia, he explained that Malaysia still lacked breeders who can supply sheep in large numbers.

 "In terms of slaughtering facilities, we still cannot beat Australia which can slaughter 8,000 livestock a day at any one facility," he said.

 There was also shortage of facilities to store the meat while waiting to be processed, cooked and canned, he added.

 In terms of cost, sheep in Australia was far cheaper and this allows the Muslim Aid's objective to help as many Muslims as possible.

 Wan Rusli said MAA has not set any target but hoped that more people would perform the Qurban and donate so that it can help more Muslim brothers and sisters.

 Those keen to participate in the programme can contact 03-2288 1996 or log-in to www.muslimaidasia.com for more information.

 -- BERNAMA

PROGRAM AKIKAH BERSAMA MUSLIM AID ASIA

Pada 30hb Ogos 2006 yang lalu, Muslim Aid Asia (MAA) telah menyerahkan daging Qurban yang telah ditinkan sebanyak 6,800 kilogram kepada rakyat termiskin di Terengganu. Program Cakna dan Sayang yang dirasmikan oleh Y.A.B Dato Seri Haji Idris Bin Jusoh, Menteri Besar Terengganu telah memberi peluang kapada MAA untuk memberi daging tersebut pada majlis pelancaran tersebut.

Upacara penyerahan mock-up cheque kepada Y.A.B Dato' Seri haji Idris Bin Jusoh, Meteri Besar Terengganu.