Moijueh Kaikai, Sierra Leone’s minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, thanked the Kingdom Thursday for facilitating Haj for 916 pilgrims.

“Our pilgrims were impressed with this year’s pilgrimage. They will remain in the Kingdom for a while since they arrived late,” Ibrahim Y. Sillah, Sierra Leone's Dawa Committee member in the Kingdom, told Arab News.

They are scheduled to leave on Nov. 7 and 8. Kaikai headed this year’s Haj delegation. Sillah, who teaches English at King Saud University, said that there is an average of 800 to 1,000 Sierra Leonean pilgrims performing Haj yearly.

“The number may not be significant for a country with 6 million people, of which 75 percent are Muslims, but Sierra Leone is around 8,000 km away from the Kingdom, making it inaccessible to many” he said.

He added that the Sierra Leonean Dawa Committee also extended assistance to pilgrims on how to perform Haj rituals.

“The committee has been extending assistance to their pilgrims for the last 20 years,” Sillah said.

The committee is composed of graduates and students from the Al-Imam University in the Saudi capital and the Islamic University in Madinah.

The committee also assisted them in going to the Grand Mosque to help them circumambulate around the House of God and walk between Safa and Marwa.

“Committee members continue to educate the pilgrims on what to do during the three days they have to spend in Mina after standing on Mount Arafat and after spending the night at Muzdalifah,” Sillah said.