Mama @ Work: Last Chance Qurban

By this time next week, people from around the world will be commemorating the sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham a.s.) and his son Ismail (Ishmael) by sacrificing sheep, cattle or even camels. There's a set of criteria in choosing the animals, like making sure they are not pregnant (if female) and have no visible impairment. Mama's organisation has been offering the Qurban service since 1989. While people in developing countries can still slaughter animals in their backyards, those in more developed countries would find it a hassle to ask abattoirs to slaughter just one animal for them. Thus, NGOs like Mama's would assist them so that bulk slaughter can be done at the abattoirs. More than just the slaughter process, the meat would then be further processed at a cannery to get products that have longer shelf life. Thus, the canned Qurban concept is born. In Malaysia, it is still normal practice for village elders to organise slaughter at places of worship. While this is good in fostering good relationship among neighbours, last minute orders however are impossible. Take the present time for example, most surau committees would have closed down Qurban orders as only a week is left until Eid. What do you then? Just click on the poster below. Mama's organisation is able to accommodate last minute orders because of the good relationship nurtured with the abattoirs over the years.

www.muslimaidasia.com

For further information, go to www.muslimaidasia.com or call +603 2288 1996 or +603 2282 1996. Last day for orders is 25 Oct 2012.

That Time of The Year

You all must have been wondering about the advertisement we placed under the header that says "Qurban for Life." If you had clicked on it, you would be taken to a website dedicated to the cause. From there, you can get more information and proceed to donate for the cause. Or you can click here. The website is written entirely in Malay but there's google translator.

You see, every year, Mama's office organise the slaughter of either sheep or cow and then distribute them to the poor. Usually, slaughter will take place in an abattoir in Australia, the meat is then shipped to Malaysia for canning, and then the canned meat is sent to the recipient countries. The beneficiaries vary from year to year, depending on where food aid is needed most. This year, the plan is to send them to Somalia. In the past years, containers had gone to countries like Iraq, Palestine, Bosnia, Jordan, Yemen, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.  

Qurban means sacrifice in Arabic, following the Abrahamic tradition of slaughtering an animal in the saeson of pilgrimage. The meat from the slaughtered animal is then distributed among the poor. In modern days, sometimes there are no poor people in areas where people make these sacrifices, thus advisable to distribute them away. By canning the meat, like what Mama's organisation is doing, distribution can even be done in countries or even continents that are thousands of miles away. Mama's organisation is one of the pioneers in performing Qurban this way, having done so for the past 20 years.  In Malaysia, this method was introduced in 2003 and so that makes it the eighth year that Malaysians have been able to participate.  Of course, donations from overseas are also accepted, online donations are possible via the website.

For the past eight years, Mama has been doing the annual abattoir duty that has also taken her to exotic locales in Australia such as Crainbourne (Victoria), Dubbo (New South Wales), Albany (Western Australia) and Gympie (Queensland). Not exactly on the beaten tourist paths but these places are interesting and in fact we've written about some of them, Dubbo and Gympie to be exact. Please use the search button on the right if you want to read the concerned write ups.

Okay, here's the plug. For just RM380 (USD120.50/AUD117.35/CAD122.55/GBP75.55), you get a sheep or 1/7th of a cow that can feed a family of four for about a month. The beauty of giving canned meat is its long shelf life of three years compared to fresh meat that would have to be refrigerated or frozen.

The finished product - corned beef. Sometimes we produced corned mutton, depending on available livestock.

"You know who" at the cattle holding pen - before the slaughter. I'm not going to show the slaughter process here, it's gory and might offend some kitties and hoomans.

The meat is then put in boxes and kept in the freezer before shipping to cannery.

"You know who" inspecting the refrigerated container where the meat is kept.

Distribution in recipient country - this was done in Lebanon, for Palestinian refugees.

Angelina's note: Donations are accepted until Monday Nov 7th. So, hurry up. purrr....meow!