A woman in Indonesia saved 26 years to travel to Hadge

I've always wanted to go to Haxhi”, says Maryan City for Anadolu Agency (AA), followed by Klan Kosova, who is due to leave for Saudi Arabia on Friday.

Maryan says her desire to go to Hadge became more powerful after her husband's death in the 1980s and she has begun saving money since 1993.

At that time, however, she did not know how to earn money for Hadge after she left to raise four children.

“So I started collecting waste”, says Maryan.

From then on, she has worked as a garbage collector every morning from sunrise until the time of the dawn prayer.

The 64-year-old has collected debris such as plastic covers and bottles, as well as cardboard, to sell them.

After heavy rains, I also collected sand to sell”, she says.

After living in the vicinity of the Crawung River, the main river that passes through Jakarta, it has often eroded sand from the river and sold it as construction material. It collected at least five bags a day, and a sack sold it for $8,000 Indonesian body ($0,56).

In 2012, after Maryan's labor labor of about two decaths, the collected savings of 25 million Indonesian body ($1.750, U.S.), at the time the first minimum payment required in Indonesia to register for Hadge.

Since then, she has worked even harder by collecting debris and sand to pay for the remaining 10 million soils (about 700 dollars).

She kept Haxhi's savings secret from family and relatives for years.

Even her children did not know that their mother was collecting debris and sand all the time to pay off the pilgrimage.

Maryan announced her children in April this year, after receiving news about the time she left for Hadge from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

When the neighbors understood Mary's plan, they were curious and asked how the children could have allowed her to pick up garbage for years to go to Hadge.

How could I have helped my mother, nor did I know she raised money to travel to Hadge”, says Dany Mulyana, one of the children who works in a parking lot.

Maryan admits that 26 years are a very long time, but says she has never been worried about when she will be able to go to holy places.

The most important thing to do is save. I never gave up, I was always filled with spirit and never felt tired”, she said.

Maryan did not sell the items she immediately collected but sold them after collecting them for a year.

I would get about 1.2 million soil (84 dollars) per year. I would save a million (70 dollars) and spend the rest”, she says.

As for daily expenses, Maryan has had the support of her children, most of whom are already married and live separately.