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3rd Quarter 2008 |
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Page 5 |
Breaking the Fast
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The Gunungan Organisation and Children's Refuge have no religious affiliations. The Children at the Refuge are free to follow whatever religion they wish. In Indonesia , approximately 90% of the population are Muslim and this is also currently reflected in the spread of religions at the Refuge. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan fell during September this year and the Muslim children at the Refuge followed the practice of fasting from sunrise to sunset during this month. It is traditional to break the fast in the evening with some sweet drinks and special food, often as a group event. This year the children were invited to attend a few fast breaking events. |
The first event was a combined fast breaking and birthday party. A local lady, Mbak Ida, wished to celebrate her birthday with the children at the Refuge. She arrived early evening with a group of her friends and then after a few speeches and prayers everyone dived in to sweet mixed fruit drinks and then a selection of snacks, chicken rice and fresh fruit.
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The Second was a kind invitation from the local Ibis and Novotel hotels in Solo. On 12 September two Novotel buses pulled up at the Refuge door to bring the children to the Ibis hotel. A small ceremony was held and the children were given fast breaking food and drink, and then some gifts to take home. Many thanks to the Manager and Staff of the Novotel and Ibis hotels for the event.
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The third was another birthday, this time Ibu Muljani's twin sons, Yoga and Yogi had their 12th birthday party with a fast breaking ceremony at the Refuge on 13 September. Ibu Mul cooked her special meat balls for the event which everyone enjoyed very much, and little Putri (far far left) entertained everyone with an example of the dancing that won her first place at her village competition day.
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The last was an invitation from ‘Danar Hadi', a local Batik clothing manufacturer, to join a large fast breaking event attended by almost 2000 children from orphanages across the region. Each child was given food, drink and Rp60,000 (approx US$ 6.00). |
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