Abdul Sattar Edhi,

was born in 1928 in a small village of Bantva near Joona Garh, Gujrat (India). The
seeds of compassion for the suffering humanity were sown in his soul by his
mother’s infirmity. When Edhi was at the tender age of eleven, his mother became
paralysed and later got mentally ill. Young Abdul Sattar devoted himself for looking
after all her needs; cleaning, bathing, changing clothes and feeding. This proved to
be a loosing battle against the disease, and her helplessness increased over the
years. Her persistent woeful condition left a lasting impression on young Edhi. The
course of his life took a different turn from other persons of his age. His studies were
also seriously affected and he could not complete his high school level. For him the
world of suffering became his tutor and source of wisdom.
Edhi’s mother died when he was 19. His personal experience made him think of
thousands and millions, suffering like his mother, around with nobody to look after
them.

He thought that he had a call to help these people. He had a vision of chains of
welfare centres and hospitals that could be opened to alleviate the pain of those
suffering from illness and neglect. He also thought of the in-human treatment meted
out to the mentally ill, the insane and the disabled persons. Even at this early age, he
felt personally responsible for taking on the challenge of developing a system of
services to reduce human miseries. The task was huge he had no resources. But it
was some thing that he had to do even if he had to walk to the streets if he had to
beg for this purpose. Edhi and his family migrated to Pakistan in 1947. In order to
earn his living, Abdul Sattar Edhi initially started as a peddler, later became a
commission agent selling cloth in the wholesale market in Karachi.After a couple of
years, he left this occupation and with the support of some members of his
community decided to establish a free dispensary. He became involved in this charity
work. However, soon his personal vision of a growing and developing system of
multifarious services made him decide to establish a welfare trust of his own and
named it as “Edhi Trust”.
An appeal was made to the public for funds. The response was good, and
Rs.200,000/- were raised. The range and scope of work of Edhi Trust expanded with
remarkable speed under the driving spirit of the man behind it. A maternity home
was established and emergency ambulance service was started in the sprawling
metropolis of Karachi with a population of over 10 million.More donations were
received as people’s confidence in the activities of the Trust grew. With the passage
of time, masses gave him the title of the ”Angel of Mercy.”
Abdul Sattar Edhi was married in 1965 to Bilquis, a nurse who worked at the Edhi
dispensary. The couple have four children, two daughters and two sons. Bilquis runs
the free maternity home at the headquarter in Karachi and organises the adoption of
illegitimate and abandoned babies. The husband-wife team has come to share the
common vision of single minded devotion to the cause of alleviation of human
sufferings and a sense of personal responsibility to respond to each call for help,
regardless of race, creed or status. Edhi involves himself in every activity at Edhi
Foundation from raising funds to bathing corpses. Round the clock he keeps with
him an ambulance which he drives himself and makes rounds of the city regularly. On
finding a destitute or an injured person any where on the way, he escorts him to the
Relief Centre where immediate attention is given to the needy person. Inspite of his
busy work schedule with the Foundation, Edhi finds enough time to spare with the
residents of the orphanages called “Edhi Homes”. He is very found of playing and
laughing with the children. A short strongly built man in his early seventies with a
flowing beard and a ready smile, Edhi is popularly called “Nana” by the residents of
“Edhi Homes”.

Despite his enormous fame and the vast sums of money that passes through his
hands, Edhi adheres to a very simple and modest life style. He and his family live in a
two room apartment adjacent to the premises of Foundation’s headquarter. Neither
Edhi nor Bilquis receives any salary. They live on the income from government
securities that Edhi bought many years ago to take care of their personal needs for
the rest of their lives, thereby freeing them to devote single mindedly to their
missionary work.He shuns publicity for the fear of becoming haughty. As the
credibility and fame grew and the name of Edhi became a house-hold word, people
started approaching him for becoming chief guest at occasions. Although Edhi has a
traditional Islamic background, he has an open and progressive mind on a number of
sensitive social issues. He strongly supports the notion of working women. Of the
2,000 paid workers of the Edhi Foundation around 500 are women. They work in
various capacities in-charges of Edhi centres, heads of maternity homes and
dispensaries and office workers. More-over, several women volunteers help Edhi
Foundation in fund raising. Edhi encourages women to do all sorts of work without
differentiation.