ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Filipino-Turkish Tolerance School (FTTS) slaughtered 87 cattle for distribution to the less fortunate as it marked on Tuesday the celebration of the “Feast of Sacrifice (Eid’l Adha).”
FTTS school director Ismail Kullap told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) this year’s celebration will benefit at least 5,000 families, most of whom are fire victims.
The beneficiaries are from barangays (villages) Kasanyangan and Labuan as well as in Jolo, Sulu and Basilan provinces.
“More or less, there are 5,000 packages (of beef) will be distributed this year. More than 70 percent of it will go to the less fortunate,” Kullap said.
Kullap said they will also share beef “with our friends, staffs, our teachers and students.”
He said the cattle that were slaughtered this year were purchased with the assistance of Turkish businessmen based in Germany.
“Most of the cows were sponsored by the Turkish businessmen in Germany,” he added.
In last year’s celebration, sponsors were the Turkish businessmen based in Australia.
The Eid’l Adha also called the “Festival of Sacrifice” is the second of two Islamic holidays celebrated worldwide each year (the other being Eid al-Fitr), and considered the holier of the two.
It honors the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God’s command. Before Abraham could sacrifice his son, God provided a ram to sacrifice instead.
In commemoration of this, an animal is sacrificed and divided into three parts: one third of the share is given to the poor and needy; another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors; and the remaining third is retained by the family. (Teofilo Garcia, Jr/PNA)
