Tawafa guides offer unmatched services

By Aisha Alsagheer JEDDAH — The hundreds of thousands of pilgrims coming to Makkah to perform the annual Haj are received by Tawafa guides. Dr. Sameer Baraqa has been working as a guide for decades, and is well-versed with the history of the Haj and African pilgrims, particularly Nigerians. Baraqa was raised by parents who both worked as Tawafa guides for several pilgrims, and so he grew up to be a Tawafa guide himself and developed a great love for this job. “In the past, a tawafa guide was free to serve pilgrims from different nationalities. My father worked as a guide for African, Algerian, Sudanese, Turkish and other pilgrims. Today, the situation has changed and each guide is in charge of the pilgrims of a certain nationality,” he said. In the past, Tawafa guides brought African pilgrims to Makkah. Baraqa’s father was one of the guides who used to travel to African countries in the 1940s and invite Africans to come to Makkah. Pilgrims would travel by plane or ship to Makkah, and when they arrived, they would be accorded a warm welcome by their Tawafa guide. Baraqa said he still remembers how his father hugged pilgrims as if they were his brothers. Today, unfortunately, pilgrims are not given such a warm welcome and they are merely numbers on lists, and they are often treated as such. A Tawafa guide does not know their names and does not even try to memorize them. Women constituted the majority of African pilgrims in the past, and Baraqa still keeps the files of his father which give information about the pilgrims, their names, ages, nationality and gender. “The other day I found a passport copy of a female pilgrim who performed Haj when she was 18 years old with my father. Today, she is over 75 years and still comes through our Tawafa establishment to perform Haj. She is from Benin. I visited her in Benin and met with her sons and daughters. She still remembers my father’s name and face and beautiful memories of Haj,” he said. This very close relationship between a pilgrim and a Tawafa guide is rare today. However, services provided to pilgrims have improved immensely, as these days pilgrims are provided with shuttle transportation services, good food, clean accommodation, educational activities and other privileges. "Nigerian pilgrims are some of the most organized, compared with pilgrims from other African countries. They are cooperative and observe laws and local social traditions," Baraqa said. "They attach great importance to learning and knowledge, and are keen to learn the principles of Islam," he added. Baraqa is working on a book that will compile the biographies and stories of 15,000 Tawafa guides, men and women, who worked, or still work, at six Tawafa establishments. He is also working on a book on his father’s trips to Africa, particularly Benin, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.