Abdul Sattar Edhi, NI (Memoni, Urdu: عبدالستار ایدھی, Gujarati: અબ્દુલ સત્તાર ઇદી), or Maulana Edhi, is a prominent Pakistani philanthropist, social activist, public figure and an humanitarian. He is the founder and head of the Edhi Foundation, a non-profit social welfare organization in Pakistan. Together with his wife, Bilquis Edhi, he received the 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public. In 1985 Edhi received the Nishan-e-Imtiaz from the Government of Pakistan.[2]
Edhi Projects, Programs and Services:
- 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 centers in rural and urban Pakistan which operate as food kitchens, rehabilitation homes, shelters for abandoned women and children and clinics for the mentally handicapped.[3]
- Edhi Foundation runs the world’s largest ambulance service and
- operates free nursing homes, orphanages, clinics, women’s shelters, and rehab centers for drug addicts and mentally ill individuals.[9]
- 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.
- Baby cradles (jhoolas) are installed at most Edhi centers, where unwanted or abandoned babies may be left. Adoptions are then arranged for the infants.
- Destitute homes (Apna Ghar) service orphans, runaways, and the mentally ill.
- Warehouses hold supplies for emergency situations.
- Missing Persons Service posts bulletins for missing persons in the press, on radio and TV.
- Prisoner’s Aid provides provisions and legal aid to imprisoned persons.
- Graveyard Services provide washing and burials for unclaimed bodies. Religious services are provided according to the deceased’s religious affiliation.
- Public Kitchens feed the hungry in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi
- Animal Shelter Edhi Foundation established a separate treatment unit which has now grown up into a small zoo. Veterinary doctors look after these animals along with other volunteer staff at super highway, Karachi. These animals include peacocks, owls, deers, monkeys, horses, mules, cats, dogs and a number of domestic birds.[4]
- he Edhi Foundation is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the largest volunteer ambulance organization in the world. Field Ambulance Service provides 1800 ambulances (the largest ambulance fleet in Pakistan and the largest private ambulance service network in the world)
- Air Ambulance Service provides two airplanes and one helicopter.
- Marine and Coastal Service provides weather warnings, air-drops food supplies, and recovers dead bodies.
- Emergency Checkposts provides immediate, emergency care.
- Highway Projects are developing new Edhi centers across the nation of Pakistan.
- Blood and Drug Banks provide medicine to needy persons. They also collect and store blood for transfusions.
- Cancer Research Hostel houses 50 cancer patients in Karachi.
- International Activities: Refugee Assistance provides help to refugees in Pakistan.
- International Community Centers are established in several nations to assist Pakistanis and other Asians overseas.
- Offices Abroad are Edhi Foundation offices established in other nations, such as Japan, the UK, and the USA.
Edhi Adoption center phone number is 0092-21-32443158
In November 2011, Edhi was recommended for a Nobel Peace prize by the Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.[10]
Edhi has remained a simple and humble man. To this day, he owns two pairs of clothes, has never taken a salary from his organization and lives in a small two bedroom apartment over his clinic in Karachi.[4] [5] He has been recommended for a Nobel Peace prize by thePrime Minister of Pakistan.
International awards
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service (1986)[13]
- Lenin Peace Prize (1988)[14]
- Paul Harris Fellow from Rotatory International Foundation, (1993) [14]
- Peace Prize from (USSR former) for services in the American earthquake disaster, (1998)
- Largest Voluntary Ambulance Organization of the World – Guinness Book of World Records (2000) [14]
- Hamdan Award for volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services (2000) UAE [14]
- International Balzan Prize (2000) for Humanity, Peace and Brotherhood, Italy [14]
- Peace and Harmony Award (Delhi), 2001
- Peace Award (Mumbai), 2004
- Peace Award (Hyderabad Deccan), 2005
- Wolf of Bhogio Peace Award (Italy), 2005
- Gandhi Peace Award (Delhi),2007
- UNESCO Madan jeet sing Peace Award (Paris),2007
- Peace Award Seoul (South Korea), 2008
- Honorary Doctorate degree from the Institute of Business Administration Karachi (2006).[6]
- UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize (2009)[15][16]
- Ahmadiyya Muslim Peace Prize (2010)[17]
- Peace Award (London), 2011
National awards[edit]
- Silver Jubilee Shield by College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan, (1962–1987) [14]
- The Social Worker of Sub-Continent by Government of Sind, Pakistan, (1989) [14]
- Nishan-e-Imtiaz, civil decoration from Government of Pakistan (1989) [14]
- Recognition of meritorious services to oppressed humanity during eighties by Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Government of Pakistan, (1989) [14]
- Pakistan Civic Award from the Pakistan Civic Society (1992) [14]
- Shield of Honor by Pakistan Army (E & C) [14]
- Khidmat Award by Pakistan Academy of Medical Sciences [14]
- Human Rights Award by Pakistan Human Rights Society [14]
