Why NaSafe exists

Why NaSafe?

Because a pilgrim can get lost in a matter of minutes.

In Medina, it can happen on the way out of the mosque, looking for the hotel. In Mecca, between the mosque, the crowded streets and the lodgings. In Arafat, when every group moves at the same time. In Muzdalifah, at night, among thousands of pilgrims. And sometimes it simply happens between two identical buses.

Some pilgrims get lost during several stages of the trip. They come back after hours, sometimes after several days, to the point where the guides themselves wonder how they managed to perform the rites in those conditions.

Many speak neither Arabic, nor English, nor even French. Only their own language. When they get lost, they cannot always explain who they are, where their hotel is, which group they belong to, or how to reach their guide.

One scene stayed with me, because I lived it.

Leaving Medina for Mecca, our bus stopped at Dhul Hulayfa, the miqat, so we could enter the state of ihram. There were dozens of buses around us. Even our own group struggled to find theirs.

One man could no longer find his bus.

I asked our guide whether we could help him. He answered that his first priority was to gather his own pilgrims.

He was right. That is a guide's job: protect the group, count the pilgrims, make sure nobody is missing. He cannot do everything at once.

I stood there, unable to help him. I simply told him I was sorry, that we were looking for our own bus to leave.

NaSafe exists for that: to help guides gather their pilgrims faster, so they can respond better when someone gets lost.

Moustapha D, founder of NaSafe