Rumah Tahfizh (Community Platforms)

Rumah Tahfizh (Community platforms)

what is "Rumah tahfizh"?

Tahfizh in Arabic means “to memorize” or “to keep”, which is usually related to the activities of memorizing Qur’an. Rumah means 'house' in Bahasa Indonesia. Thus, Rumah Tahfizh means a ‘house to memorize Qur’an’.

why was it started?

Many children in Bambu Apus are orphans and living in poverty, as most of their family members do not have any fixed jobs. Some of them work as helpers at other people’s home; some of them are rickshaw drivers or scavengers on the street, collecting recyclable garbage to be sold again.

Living in this condition, most of the parents do not think of sending their children to school as an option. Therefore, when we met them the first time, many of the children were either working with their parents or staying on the street.

Most of the parents were hesitant with the idea of bringing their children to school, even if As Sakinah offered to pay for it. They said going to school would not give them money; they believed that the children should work instead and help the family.

This is when we come up with the idea of Rumah Tahfizh. Literally means “House of Tahfizh”, As Sakinah gathered several children of Bambu Apus to learn Al Qur’an in the afternoon. The class emphasized more in memorizing (tahfizh) Al Qur’an.

The class was free and it was in the afternoon, which was after most of the children finished their work with the parents. Knowing that it would not disturb their work, the parents agreed to let the children join the Tahfizh class.

During those classes, which were led by the founder of As Sakinah herself, learning was fun. The children learned songs in Arabic and listening to stories of the prophets. As the time went by, Lisma started to tell the children about the importance of school and why they should study.

It did not happen overnight, but after many classes, events and get-togethers, we finally abled to persuade them to pursue their education. With many help from many donors, we could also start to fund their tuition.

Nowadays, some of them are already starting their term in university. The classes have also become a platform to engage with the local communities, checking in if there were children who needed immediate financial or medical support.

In addition to that our Rumah Tahfizh often became a place to do community-based program, such as free medical checkups and meal distributions, which have reduced the number of malnourished children and changed the lifestyle of families in the village to be more health-aware.