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Essay
ANGEL HERO:
ABDUL SATTAR EDHI
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Abdul Sattar Edhi is the founder of the Edhi
International Foundation, a private organization that funds relief efforts in
Pakistan and Bangladesh. These are some of the poorest nations on earth (the
per capita gross domestic product of Pakistan is about $460, which is about
1.3 percent of that in the United States).
Consequently, their governments
are not always equipped to deal with natural disasters such as fires, floods
and earthquakes, or the equally serious damage inflicted by hunger and
poverty. Edhi's foundation addresses these problems.
The
Foundation also facilitates emergency medical assistance. A recent letter in
Dawn, a Pakistani English-language newspaper, reported that the foundation
was attempting to "introduce wireless communications systems between its
ambulances and receiving hospitals ... as well as better equipped ambulances
carrying trained paramedics."
Family
and domestic issues are also part of the Edhi Foundation's concerns. Jhoolas,
or baby cradles, are set up at Edhi centers so unwanted babies can be left in
safety. Foundation-run homes provide for the destitute and mentally ill,
while a missing-persons service reconnects separated families.
Abdul
Sattar Edhi has gained international recognition for his humanitarian work.
In 2000, the Italian government awarded Edhi its Balzan Peace Award. Edhi
also addressed the leaders of the world's richest countries at the Group of 8
Summit, speaking about poverty and human rights abuses.
In a
November 17, 2000, speech at a reception for the Balzan prize winners, Edhi's
friend and biographer, Tehmina Durrani, said this about the beloved
humanitarian:
"Mr. Abdul Sattar Edhi
[is] a man perceived by most as a simple social worker. I recognized him as a
role model for the world. Practical involvement in Mr. Edhi's work is natural
to anyone in his presence. Bathing corpses and wrapping coffins, spending
entire days at collapsed building sites, in psychotic centers and
orphanages...[Mr. Edhi is] a man who had not taken a single day's vacation in
his entire lifetime. A man who spoke of a hundred years ahead, instead of the
next two. A man who conceptualized, created and sustained a welfare network
that covered the length and breadth of a nation where every other institution
was failing. A man who, without education, affluence and power, labored
ceaselessly to one day convert a third-world country into a welfare
state."
The
Edhi International Foundation has been called the largest and best organized
social welfare system in Pakistan and in the Third World. Through his
organization, Abdul Sattar Edhi gives the world a vision for implementing
humanitarian aid.
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