A security official monitoring the railway station in Mina. (SG photo by Fahd Al-Adain JEDDAH: Covering Haj is considered one of the most important events for Muslim journalists. Many journalists insist on covering it to find special, interesting stories among the vast number of pilgrims from all over the world. “Naif, try to focus on the stories of pilgrims,” one of my supervisors told me. “You need to find the human interest stories and keep your eyes open during the daily media tour in the holy sites. Readers want these kind of stories.” My journey started by easily driving to the holy sites on the old road between Jeddah and Makkah that passes through Bahrah. It took 75 minutes to reach the media camp in Mina, where many journalists from all over the world gathered to cover Haj. From the 8th of Dhul Hijjah, pilgrims started to complain about substandard services. It was a shock for me to discover how did some Tawafa companies fool pilgrims by providing inaccurate information about services in their camps. Unfortunately, some of them had already paid more than SR10,000 to receive “royal services” at a camp that was supposed to be much nicer. The Saudi Gazette logo attracted the attention of some Pakistani pilgrims. “Sir, are you from the press?,” one asked. “Please come; I have something interesting to show you.” I was surprised to see women waiting in a long line to make wudu (ablution) with unclean water for Fajr (dawn) prayer. Suddenly, the supervisor of the camp appeared and asked me to relate the true image of his camp. “This camp has no official number. Moreover, the officials of Holy Site Mayoralty and the Ministry of Haj promised to fix all the problems after we sign the contract, but they didn't,” said Majed Al-Faraji. Pilgrims agreed on the vital role of new projects like Al-Jamarat Bridge and the Holy Sites Train, which helped them perform their Haj rituals smoothly. To observe the historic launch of the train, I waited for five hours at the first Mina station. Saudi Gazette and Okaz were the only media who were able to visit the control room of the train in the station. When I rode the train for the first time, I realized that this project should have been done since 10 years ago; it helped reduce crowds of cars and provided swift, smooth transportation. The train takes only eight minutes to move through all nine stations. Inside the train, pilgrims could hear the Arabic and English announcers informing them about the directions and upcoming stations. Some pilgrims decided not to use the train although they had official tickets, especially in the first few hours after the train was launched. Mohammad Al-Sarahni, a pilgrim from Riyadh, said he was surprised that the ticket was a handy bracelet, not a piece of paper. He said his father did not believe him when he told him that he could go by train from Mina to Arafat in only three minutes. “Many pilgrims asked me about the train tickets,” Al-Sarahni said. “They thought pilgrims would use the train by putting a card in a machine, like the Dubai Metro.” Although train officials said all the stations were ready, pilgrims complained that there was need for seats in the waiting hall for elderly and disabled people, signs directing people to bathrooms and drinking water. One of the most important features of launching the train was the young Saudi volunteers from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Center for Haj Research. They were observing, recording and registering the first group of pilgrims who used the train at Dhul Hijjah 9 midnight. “We are here to register how many pilgrims used the train for the first time in Mina,” said Sameer Al-Thobaity, the leader of the center's team. “We have brought a special device to count them every five minutes.” On the first day of the Eid, I was really amazed by a sea of white Ihram at Al-Jamarat Bridge. The women pilgrims in white clothes sitting on the ground created the peace image of a dove. During the ritual activity, an Arab woman decided to drive an electric cart to transport her family from Al-Jamarat Bridge to the Mina Station Number 3. There weren't enough drivers and she thought the carts were provided for use by pilgrims. Back at the media camp, Saudi journalists demanded a special camp for media members with Internet connections, restaurants and special cars to transport them to press conferences. Covering Haj for the first time, I started to believe that it was like an adventure trip. Both of them teach the journalist a sense of patience and how to overcome obstacles of sleeping, eating and adapting in a new environment to reach your goal: Finding the best stories.
