Edhi Foundation

The Edhi Foundation (Urdu: ایدھی فاؤنڈیشن) is a non-profit social welfare organization based in Pakistan. It was founded by Abdul Sattar Edhi[2] in 1951, who served as the head of the organization until his death on 8 July 2016. Bilquis Edhi, a nurse by profession, used to oversee the maternity and adoption services of the foundation. The Edhi Foundation is headquartered in the city of Karachi.

Edhi Foundation
ایدھی فاؤنڈیشن
Founded1951 (1951)[1]
FounderAbdul Sattar Edhi
TypeNon-profit, volunteer-based
FocusHumanitarian aid, social welfare
Location
Area served
Primarily South Asia, Africa and the Middle East
Key people
Faisal Edhi, Chairman
Kubra Edhi, Director
Websiteedhi.org

The Edhi Foundation provides 24-hour emergency assistance across the entirety of Pakistan and internationally. The foundation provides, among many other services, shelter for the destitute, hospitals and medical care, drug rehabilitation services, and national and international relief efforts. The organization's main focuses are emergency services, orphans, handicapped persons, women's shelters, education, healthcare, international community centres, refugees, missing persons, blood donation & drug rehabilitation banks, air ambulance services and marine and coastal services. The organization is known to serve those in need regardless of race, religious affiliation, and social status, and runs entirely on donations and volunteer efforts. While the Edhi Foundation's primary focus is in Pakistan as well as the rest of South Asia, it has an extensive presence throughout the Middle East and Africa. However, it has also provided financial and supplementary aid to countries in Europe and the Americas in the event of natural disasters (such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005) or other issues. As of 2020, the Edhi Foundation has international head offices present in the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Japan.[3]

History

In 1928, Abdul Sattar Edhi was born in Bantva, a town in the princely state of Bantva Manavadar in British India. In 1939, when he was 11 years old, Edhi's mother suffered a major stroke and became physically and mentally disabled. Shortly after this, Edhi dropped out of school to provide full-time care to his mother. At home, he would cater to her needs by bathing her, taking her to the bathroom, feeding her, and much more. He dedicated the following years of his life caring for her until she died in early 1947. Later that year, during the Partition of India, Edhi and his family fled to the newly established Dominion of Pakistan and settled down in Karachi. The combined experiences of caring for his mother as well as seeing the death and destruction due to the partition motivated Edhi to pursue the establishment of a major humanitarian organization in Pakistan. By 1951, he had bought a small shop in Karachi and opened a free dispensary to aid those in need of humanitarian services. Since then, he began to build up what would eventually become the Edhi Foundation. He established his first welfare centre in 1957 and then the Edhi Trust.[4] Eventually, the Edhi Trust, which functioned on the efforts of a single person and one room became a large nationwide network run on volunteer efforts and donations. The organization has over 300 centres across the country, being present anywhere from big cities to small towns and remote rural areas, primarily focused on providing medical aid, family planning and emergency assistance. Air ambulances allow the network to operate in and access remote areas.

In Karachi alone, the Edhi Foundation runs eight major hospitals providing free medical care to all, alongside other services and establishments such as eye clinics, diabetic centres, surgical units, a four-bed cancer-focused hospital and mobile aid and relief dispensaries. In addition to these services, the organization also manages two blood banks. As with other Edhi services, these are run by employed professionals and volunteers. The foundation has a legal aid department, which also provides free services and has secured the release of countless innocent prisoners. Commissioned doctors visit jails on a regular basis and also supply food and other essentials to the inmates. There are 15 operational shelter homes for destitute children, runaways, and psychotics.

On 25 June 2013, Edhi's kidneys failed, with doctors announcing that he would be on dialysis for the rest of his life unless he found an appropriate kidney donor. Three years later, on 8 July 2016, Edhi died at the age of 88 due to kidney failure after having been placed on a ventilator. His last wishes included a request that his organs be donated to those in need but due to his poor health and failing organs, only his corneas were suitable for donation. Edhi was given a state funeral and thousands gathered to mourn his death as he was laid to rest in Edhi Village, Karachi.

The Edhi Foundation also has an extensive education program, which not only provides services related to standard education but also in vocational activities such as driving, pharmacy and para-medical training. The emphasis and goal of this program is to propel those who are suffering from a nearly unbreakable cycle of poverty into a life of self-sufficiency. The foundation has branches in several countries where they provide relief to refugees and citizens in need in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and Bangladesh. Following the end of the Gulf War in 1991, the foundation provided aid and rehabilitation to the citizens of Kuwait and Iraq. It has also run major relief operations for earthquake victims in Iran and Egypt. The organization has held the Guinness World Record for being the "world's largest volunteer ambulance organization" since 1997.[5] In 2016, after the death of Abdul Sattar Edhi, the State Bank of Pakistan urged all banks around the country to donate to the Edhi Foundation.[6]

Services

The Edhi Foundation provides a number of services, emergency and non-emergency, to the general public. In addition to emergency medical services and private ambulance services, the organization also renders aid to women and children in need, assists with missing persons cases, and helps in covering burial and graveyard costs of unclaimed and unidentified bodies during times of disaster and tragedy.[7]

Ambulance services
Ambulance of the foundation.

As of March 2021, the Edhi Foundation owns over 5,000 private ambulance vans stationed in areas across Pakistan.[7] The ambulance dispatchers in Karachi, one of the busiest cities in Pakistan, have reported up to 6,000 calls a day, with the average response time for each incident falling within 10 minutes.[8] It was also an Edhi ambulance which responded to and picked up the body of the American journalist, Daniel Pearl, when he was killed in 2002.[8]

The organization also owns two private jets and one helicopter to assist in moving victims from hard-to-reach locations, especially during the event of a natural disaster.[9] In addition to land and air assistance, Edhi Foundation also hosts 28 rescue boats to aid during floods and in cases of shipwrecks and disaster along the Arabian Ocean coast.[10]

Hospital services

The organization runs several private outpatient hospitals located in Pakistan. Additional medical facilities include a diabetic center, a nurse training center, immunization centers, and blood banks, including emergency banks during times of natural disasters or tragedies.[6]

Childcare services

Bilquis Edhi, co-head of the Edhi Foundation, is responsible for overseeing children's and women's services within the organization. Services he heads currently for children include the jhoola project, a child adoption center, and an abandoned children's welfare center. Jhoola is the Urdu word for "cradle",[11] and refers to a baby hatch for abandoned children. Most of the Edhi emergency centers have a jhoola located outside the venue for mothers to leave their infants, regardless of the current situation they may be in.[12] These children are taken into custody and are taken care of, often being adopted by pre-screened families.

International services

The Edhi Foundation has reached out to international communities and assisted with the setup of several offices overseas which assist with donations, fundraising, and especially financially aiding Pakistanis who have to be flown overseas for urgent medical attention.[13] In addition to providing their regular services, the overseas foundation offices often help with community needs as necessary. In 2005, the Edhi Foundation provided $100,000 in aid to relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina.[8]

In March 2020, the organization donated US$200,000 to the Iranian government to help it combat the Coronavirus epidemic plaguing the country.[14]

On April 23, 2021, Faisal Edhi, the head of the organization has offered to help India fight the Covid-19 pandemic by writing a letter to Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. He requested for permission to enter India with a team of volunteers and 50 ambulances to help assist India in the pandemic as the country is facing nationwide oxygen shortage.[15]

Popularity in media and memorial

On 28 February 2017, Google celebrated Edhi with a Google Doodle hailing his "super-efficient" ambulance service.[16]

On 1 April 2017, State Bank of Pakistan unveils Rs50 coin in honour of the late humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi.[17]

Karachi's Beach Avenue on DHA phase VII has been renamed as "Abdus Sattar Edhi Avenue".

See also

References
  1. "Edhi". Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  2. Julie McCarthy (28 July 2009). "Pakistan Philanthropist Cares For Karachi's Forgotten". NPR. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  3. "Organizational Chart – Edhi Welfare Organization". Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  4. Boone, Jon (1 April 2015). "'They call him an infidel': Pakistan's humble founder of a charity empire". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  5. Craig Glenday, ed. (2010). Guinness World Records 2010. Bantam Books. p. 237. ISBN 9780553593372. largest volunteer ambulance.
  6. "STB urges banks to contribute in pitch for Edhi Foundation". tribune.com.pk. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  7. "Ambulance Service". edhi.org. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  8. Magnier, Mark (4 October 2011). "In troubled Pakistan, a humanitarian light shines through". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  9. "Air Ambulance Service". edhi.org. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  10. "Marine Service". edhi.org. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  11. "Cradle Urdu Meanings: بچے کا جھولا - Bachay Ka Jhola - English to Urdu Dictionary". www.hamariweb.com. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  12. "Jhoolas (Baby Cradles)". edhi.org. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  13. "WORLDKINGS - Worldkings News - Asia Records Institute (ASRI) - Edhi Foundation: The world's largest volunteer ambulance organization". Worldkings - World Records Union. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  14. Rizvi, Raza (11 March 2020). "Edhi Foundation Donates $200,000 to Iran". Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  15. "Covid-19: Pak's Edhi Foundation offers to send 50 ambulances to help India". 23 April 2021.
  16. Dawn.com (28 February 2017). "Google honours 'Angel of Mercy' Edhi with doodle on his 89th birthday". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  17. Hasan, Shazia (1 April 2017). "SBP unveils Rs50 coin to honour Edhi". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
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