Cape Town - It was a joyous and blessed occasion when Survé Philanthropies (SP) bid farewell to 20 hujjaaj (pilgrims) who they assisted in sending to Mecca to perform the Hajj.
The travellers, who departed from Cape Town International Airport on Wednesday, were sponsored by SP, which was founded by Dr Iqbal Survé, in partnership with Rihlatul Umr, Lillah Foundation, and Khidmatul Awaam.
The group of 5 men and 15 women from Cape Town, Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal, were not by the means to undertake the journey.
They, as well as 772 other hujjaaj, received gift bags containing toiletries for their holy pilgrimage, which will be taking place on 14-19 June this year.
Adam Jainodien, director at Khidmatul Awaam, said the NPO strives to make Hajj affordable for South Africans.
Speaking at the airport, which was filled with hujjaaj and their families, he told Cape Argus: “The average cost of Hajj for four weeks, in this context, is R70 000 to R80 000. Survé Philanthropies has been very generous, they are going to try and take the award up to R2 million next year.
“This will give us more reach to more people. We have other organisations like Rihlatul Umr and Lillah Foundation which does the groundwork.”
Jainodien spoke about the process of selecting pilgrims for the costly trip, which is prescribed as the “fifth pillar of Islam”.
“We have so many examples of people who have gone on this journey, where they had R3500 in their bank account and they got a SMS to say they have been selected to go on Hajj that year.
“Through their belief, and appealing to communities and families, with organisations like Survé Philanthropies, we were able to send that lady on a full package, which panned out to about R90 000.”