Abdul Sattar Edhi

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Abdul Sattar Edhi
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Born Abdul Sattar Edhi
(1928-01-01) 1 January 1928 (age 96)
Bantva, Bantva Manavadar, Western India States Agency, British Raj (Present day Bantva, Gujarat, India)
Nationality Indian, (1928-1947) Pakistani 1947-Present
Ethnicity Bantva Memon[1][2]
Known for Social Work
Simple lifestyle
Spouse(s) Bilquis Edhi
Awards Lenin Peace Prize
Nishan-e-Imtiaz
Ahmadiyya Muslim Peace Prize
Website Eidhi Official Site

Abdul Sattar Edhi, NI (Memoni, Urdu: عبدالستار ایدھی‎) is a prominent Pakistani philanthropist, social activist, ascetic and humanitarian. He is the founder and head of the Edhi Foundation.

Together with his wife, Bilquis Edhi, he received the 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service. He is also the recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize and the Balzan Prize. In 2006, Institute of Business Administration Pakistan conferred an honoris causa degree of Doctor of Social Service Management for his services. In September 2010, Edhi was also awarded an honorary degree of Doctorate by the University of Bedfordshire.[3] In 1985 Edhi received the Nishan-e-Imtiaz from the Government of Pakistan.[4] On 1 January 2014, Edhi was voted Person of the year 2013 by the readers of The Express Tribune.[5]

Abdul Sattar Edhi has been running the Edhi Foundation in Pakistan for the better part of six decades. The foundation owns and operates a large ambulance service, free nursing homes, orphanages, clinics, women’s shelters, food kitchens, and rehabilitation centers for drug addicts and mentally ill individuals all across the country.

Edhi has remained a simple and humble man. To this day, he owns two pairs of clothes, has never taken a salary from his organisation and lives in a small two bedroom apartment over his clinic in Karachi.[6][7] He has been recommended for a Nobel Peace prize by the Prime Minister of Pakistan with more than 30,000 signing a petition by Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Malala Yousafzai for his nomination.[8] On 25 June 2013 Edhi's kidneys failed and it was announced that he will be on dialysis for the rest of his life, unless he finds a kidney donor.[9] The Guardian called him 'a legendary charity worker known for his asceticism'.[10] He has been called the greatest living humanitarian in the world.[11]

Early life

Edhi was born in 1928 in Bantva in the Gujarat, British India.[12] When he was eleven, his mother became paralysed and her brain veins smashed[clarification needed] and she died when he was 19. His personal experiences caused him to develop a system of services for old, mentally ill and challenged people. Edhi and his family migrated to Pakistan in 1947. He then shifted to Karachi to work in a market at a whole sale shop. His mother would give him 1 paisa for his daily eat and another to give to a begger. He initially started as a pedlar, later became a commission agent selling cloth in the wholesale market in Karachi. After a few years, he established a free dispensary with the help from his community. He later established a welfare trust, "Edhi Trust".[13]

Abdul Sattar Edhi was married in 1965 to Bilquis, a nurse who worked at the Edhi dispensary.[14] The couple have four children, two daughters and two sons. Bilquis runs the free maternity home at the headquarters in Karachi and organises the adoption of illegitimate and abandoned babies.

Charity work

He was born in 1928, he was a dungaar in the city of Bantva in what is now Gujarat, western British India. Edhi's first interaction with human suffering occurred at the age of eleven, when his mother was physically paralysed and later suffered from mental illness. Edhi spent his waking hours caring for her, and her worsening health and eventual death left a lasting impact on his life. In 1947, at the age of 19, Mr. Edhi's family was forced to flee their hometown and relocate to Karachi. Finding himself in a new city without any resources, Edhi resolved to dedicate his life to aiding the poor, and over the last sixty years, he has single handedly changed the face of welfare in Pakistan. Edhi founded the Edhi Foundation, with an initial sum of a mere five thousand rupees. Regarded as a guardian for the poor, Edhi began receiving numerous donations, which allowed him to expand his services. To this day, the Edhi Foundation continues to grow in both size and service, and is currently the largest welfare organisation in Pakistan. Since its inception, the Edhi Foundation has rescued over 20,000 abandoned infants, rehabilitated over 50,000 orphans and has trained over 40,000 nurses. It also runs over three hundred and thirty welfare centres in rural and urban Pakistan which operate as food kitchens, rehabilitation homes, shelters for abandoned women and children and clinics for the mentally handicapped.[6]

Edhi Foundation runs the world's largest ambulance service and operates free nursing homes, orphanages, clinics, women's shelters, and rehab centres for drug addicts and mentally ill individuals.[15] It has run relief operations in Africa, Middle East, the Caucasus region, eastern Europe and US where it provided aid following the New Orleans hurricane of 2005. In November 2011, Edhi was recommended for a Nobel Peace prize by the Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.[16] Abdul Sattar Edhi suffered renal failure as announced on 26 June 2013 at SIUT and needs kidney donation.[17]

Travel issues

In the early 1980s he was arrested by Israeli troops while entering Lebanon. In 2006, he was detained in Toronto, Canada, for 16 hours. In January 2008, US immigration officials interrogated Edhi at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York for over eight hours, and seized his passport and other documents. When asked about the frequent detention Edhi said "The only explanation I can think of is my beard and my dress."[18] In January 2009, Edhi was refused entry to Gaza by Egyptian authorities.[19]

Honors and awards

International awards

National awards

See also

  • Edhi Foundation
  • Half of Two Paisas: The Extraordinary Mission of Abdul Sattar Edhi and Bilquis Edhi[24]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://leadershipforhighschool.wordpress.com/leader-profile/dr-abdul-sattar-edhi/
  3. ↑ http://dawn.com/2012/06/15/abdul-sattar-edhi-under-taliban-threat/
  4. ↑ http://www.the-south-asian.com/february2002/AbdulSattarEdhi-social_worker.htm
  5. ↑ Tribune person of the year 2013: Your vote, our hero
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 http://www.nobelprizeforedhi.com/about-edhi.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.nation.com.pk/Pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/karachi/14-Mar-2013/edhi-appeals-zardari-obama-for-aafia-s-release
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ http://tribune.com.pk/story/568148/edhi-suffers-from-kidney-failure-to-stay-on-dialysis-rest-of-his-life/
  10. ↑ 'They call him an infidel': Pakistan's humble founder of a charity empire
  11. ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/06/abdul-sattar-edhi_n_3223839.html
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.00 21.01 21.02 21.03 21.04 21.05 21.06 21.07 21.08 21.09 21.10 21.11 21.12 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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