We as Muslims know that charity has great importance in our religion. We give Sadqa (charity) to others to please Allah. Charity not only strengthens your bond with Allah but also grows love between human beings.
Charity is not only encouraged in Islam, but it is encouraged and supported across the world and in all religions to help others who need your help. We know that charity has different kinds like monetary charity, volunteer your time to masjids, homeless shelters, and schools, give advice, and even giving someone a smile is a sadqa.
Charity is not only beneficial for the receiver, but it also provides benefit to the donor. For this purpose, a different charitable foundation is established and like the rest of the world, the charity foundations are also established in Pakistan. Some of these organizations are Edhi Foundation, Ehsaas foundation, shuakat khanum, shahid Afridi foundation etc are some of the major foundations which provide help and support to the needy people. These are the Non-profit organization that works for the social benefits of the society like the health, educational, religious and other different kinds of helps.
Here in this article, we will talk about the Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation (one of the largest welfare trusts), its history, the founder of this organization, the services of the foundation, and much more about it.
History
The Journey had been started in 1951, when Abdul Sattar Edhi opened a small pharmacy and selling medicine for free, in Karachi. Later, in 1957 he established his organization’s first center named Edhi Foundation, a non-profitable social welfare trust. Abdul Sattar Edhi was the head of the organization since its establishment until his death on July 8, 2016. Abdul Sattar Edhi was a humanitarian, philanthropist, and ascetic, his established foundation become one of the largest and famous foundation not only in Pakistan but, across the world.
The Abdul Sattar Edhi foundation has now 300 centers throughout Pakistan, situated in big and in small cities, as well as in rural areas. Lots of homeless shelters, animal shelters, rehabilitation centers, and orphanages homes across Pakistan and a large network of volunteer Edhi ambulance are the major services that are provided by this organization. Bilquis Edhi (Edhi’s wife), a nurse, manages the foundation’s maternity and adoption activities. The Foundation’s headquarter is in Karachi. After the death of Abdul Sattar Edhi, his son Faisal Edhi took over the management of the organization.
The non-profit, non-commercial, and non-political organization became one of the very best welfare trusts across the country. It is providing 24/7 services to people without any discrimination, based on class, color or religion.
The founder of Edhi organization
Abdul Sattar Edhi, the organization’s founder, was born in India in 1928. His mother became physically paralyzed and mentally disable when he was only 11 years old. He dropped his school, to take care of his mother. In 1947, his mother died, and later that year, after the partition of the sub-continent he moved with his family to Pakistan and settled down in Karachi. Edhi was inspired to build a big humanitarian organization in Pakistan after caring for his mother and witnessing the loss and destruction caused by division. After that, he bought a small shop in Karachi and start free medical aid to people through that small dispensary. The journey had started at that time and now it has become one of the best foundations in Pakistan.
The co-founder of Edhi organization
As the phrase goes, “there is a woman behind every man.” Balquis Edhi has certainly demonstrated this, as she has stood with her husband through ups and downs. Bilquis Edhi named “the mother of Pakistan”, heads the Bilquis Edhi foundation, and with her husband received the 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service. Not only that, but she had received the prestigious “Hilal-e-Imtiaz” prize.
She took the responsibilities of the women section as well as giving children for adoption throughout Pakistan. She spent her whole life for a noble cause with her husband and still she is continuously working for human beings.
Edhi foundation services
The foundation is offering a lot of services like provide national and international relief, provide emergency services in case of flood, fire, and in other natural disasters, air, land, and marine Edhi ambulance services during accidents, recovering dead bodies from seas and floods, free rehabilitating the drug addicts, help in tracing the missing people, arrange the marriage of helpless people, providing free food, clothing to needy people.
Not only these, but the organization also provides technical education, to make people self-independent by gaining some technical knowledge. Besides this, it also provides shelter and food to orphan and needy people. Their services are:
Children care services
Children’s care services are supervised and control by Mrs. Bilquis Edhi. Newborn kids are hand over to Childless families, and Bilquis Edhi handles this responsibility. After completely going through the background of the couple and ensure that they are suitable for taking this responsibility then the child is given to the couple.
She set criteria for child adoption such as father’s salary should be good enough, the adoptive fathers shouldn’t have drug-related problems. The mother should be under the age of 50, and the couple should own a house.
Edhi organization keeps Physical and metal disabled children with themselves. A separate area is built for them in the center. Adoptive parents have adopted about 23,320 newborns. When it comes to selecting prospective parents for children, the foundation takes great care.
Edhi home
The organization built “Edhi homes” for the people who don’t have any shelter and anyone to take care of them. The women who faced physical or mental torture and domestic violence are protected by this Foundation. Elder ladies and gents, younger boys and girls live in these homes. Karachi, Multan, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta are some places where these Edhi shelter homes are established for orphan girls and boys, and elderly people.
Ambulance services
The foundation started its volunteer Edhi ambulance service with a second-hand hillman pick-up truck, which was at that time labeled as the “poor patient ambulance” and now the foundation has the largest volunteer ambulance network in the world.
According to a report, the Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation has owned over 5,000 private ambulance vans. They do not only provide the land ambulance service, but it owns also private jets and a helicopter, which they use to help needy people in the event of a major crisis. In addition, it has also 28 boats that work during floods disasters.
Hospital Services
Hospitalized services provided by the organization include a diabetic center, a nurse training facility, immunization facilities, and blood banks.
Funeral service
Alongside other services, the funeral and burial services are also provided by this foundation. In Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad a special graveyard has been established where unidentified/unclaimed dead bodies are buried. The dead body ghusal, coffin, grave, and all the Islamic rituals for a burial Muslim dead body are arranged.
Morgue Services
The foundation also provides mortuary services throughout Pakistan in addition to funeral services. Morgue services are used to store human bodies pending autopsies, identification, or respectful burial.
Animal Rescue Center
The Foundation also takes care of badly treated animals and gives them medical treatment. They are given food, medical care, and protection in order to improve their condition and rehabilitate them physically. Edhi Trust’s animal rescue centers also provide shelter for lost or abandoned house pets.
Educational Services
The foundation operates elementary and primary schools in Karachi, Nawab Shah, and Mirpur Khas in Sindh. Not only that, but the foundation also offers vocational training in areas like as driving, paramedical training, pharmacy, sewing, and so on. These courses helps the people to gain some skill and knowledge about some area, thus, it lets them to become independent.
Missing persons services
It is typical for mentally handicapped people who are unable to return home to wander the streets. Edhi organization helps them by advertisement in the press using wireless technology like Tv, radio and helps them to return to their home.
Sometimes, children get lost or get separated from their parents during accidents, the foundation returns them to their houses.
International Services
The activities of the Edhi organization have extended across the world. They help needy people in the burial of dead bodies, give them moral and social support, provide drug rehabilitation services. They also provide financial support if someone needs medical treatment abroad.
Some other services that the foundation providing include establishing a warehouse where all required supplies for emergency situations are kept, marine services, blood donation, prisoner aids, Edhi kitchen, and refugee support.
Headquarter
The headquarter of Abdul Sattar Edhi foundation is situated in Sarafa Bazar, Boulton Market, Mithadar, Karachi.
The Edhi helpline services is available on this number: +92 (21) 32413232.
Email address: [email protected]
Edhi centers can be found in all provinces of Pakistan, with zonal offices in Karachi, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Islamabad, and Lahore, as well as foreign offices in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia. You can contact through Edhi number by using the Edhi helpline service available on the Foundation’s website.
Edhi- A Humanitarian
Abdul Sattar Edhi has dedicated decades of his life to serving people without expecting anything in return. He had helped people without regard for their race or gender, and he had set a good example for society. He demonstrated that humanity has no religion and created a new meaning to life by encouraging everyone to show love, affection, and fraternity to one another.
