MAKKAH: The Tawafa Establishment for Non-Arab African Countries serves over 180,000 pilgrims coming from 46 African countries that are not members of the Arab League, according to the chairman of the establishment, Abdul Wahid Seifuddin.
“This year the 31 field offices of the establishment have undertaken the task of serving tens of thousands of pilgrims belonging to various cultural backgrounds, practicing different customs and habits and speaking diverse languages,” he said.
The Tawafa official said his establishment has taken all possible steps to see that none of the pilgrims overstay after Haj. “It is the practice of the establishment to upgrade its services after conducting studies about the services being offered every year,” he added. “The study includes obtaining feedback from pilgrims regarding the quality of services and their satisfaction of the services. This process helps to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses. It is on the basis of these studies and the observations of the Haj Ministry and other reliable evaluating agencies that the action plan for the coming year is prepared.”
“One of the notable achievements of the establishment is finding a solution for the problems created by the tendency of African pilgrims to carry a large amount of baggage when they return. Traffic Police stop buses with dangerous loads, thus causing delays in return schedules. So the Tawafa establishment made special arrangements to transport the pilgrims’ luggage to the ports of departure with the collaboration of the Traffic Police,” he said.
The establishment also pays special attention to the stoning ceremony at the Jamrat Bridge safe, particularly on the second day after Eid Al-Adha when pilgrims tend to perform the ritual in haste to return home, he said. Most pilgrims leave Mina on the second day of the stone throwing, creating an added rush at the Jamrat Bridge leading sometimes to accidents. “In order to avoid that rush we persuade at least 25 percent of the pilgrims to stay for the third day and thus reduce the rush on the second day,” said Seifuddin. “We also select the most convenient time for stone throwing. This year we want to persuade 30 percent of them to stay until the third day.”
