Adbul Sattar Edhi's Ideology of Social Service & Charity

Photo credits: SDPI

Speakers:  Ms. Shazia Maqsood Chairperson Pakistan Centre for philanthropy, Shoaib Sultan, Javed                     Dar Depty Represenatative Edhi Foundation
Venue:       SDPI Conference Hall

Date:         1st August, 2016

Timings:    3:00 pm-5:00 pm

The objective of the session was to review the ideology of Mr. Edhi along with his good governance which has resulted in performing tasks like no other and to pay tribute to that legendary man. The session started with the opening remarks of team Dr Abid Suleri who introduced Mr Edhi as an entity whose is greater than any words concentrated. The life of Mr Edhi is a success story, a land mark and an ideology of good governance which needs to be recognized at every level. From starting till progression, Edhi has formed an example. SDPI plans to conduct researches on his work to highlight them. He raised the question about the factors because of which people had faith in him and made him successful. He also addressed the relationship of social needs with the donations being granted.

Mr. Javed Dar showed his gratitude of being part of this conference as a representative from Edhi foundation and shared his idea about Mr Edhi who is like no other. He could not find words suitable to discuss such a great man. He highlighted the work specially ambulance network in which 180 ambulances are currently present in twin cities. These ambulances are of international standards and are better in services than any developed country. They barely need 8-10 minute to reach any accident site and provide services free of charge. Rescue 1122 and Pak army also have trust the services of Edhi foundation and keep them updated of the incidents taking place. Poor people who cannot afford basic residential facilities can be found in Edhi homes at any time. Edhi foundation never received any donations from government rather it functioned as a private foundation. Once Mr Edhi collected $400,000 only within a few hours. Any ordinary person who cannot afford to transport the dead to their respective areas just need to submit an application along with their CNIC to the Edhi Centre in the vicinity in order to avail the free services of transportation. In answer to a question regarding credibility; Mr Dar compared the ambulance system of Edhi foundation with Rescue 1122. Even in Ramazan, people stand in long queues to make donations there. People trust those whose efforts are visible.

Ms. Shazia Maqsood begin with highlighting the significance of sessions like the one to remember the great man. There are many philanthropists but no one can match Mr. Edhi. People have given him by different titles but none is enough for his services. His training started with his upbringing by his mother who used to him money not for himself but for others as well. She also shared some stats related to philanthropy in Pakistan according to which Pakistan is ranked at 94^th in global giving index, among top ten countries who help strangers. Although the total sum of different investments by Pakistanis hasn’t yet been determined, yet Pakistani are one of the most generous people all around the world. The sole budget of Edhi Foundation has been determined to be approximately 10 billion per year who has increased with time. She emphasized on making better choices for donations like donations to the organizations as donation to the individuals often leads to strengthening the beggars’ mafia only. She also emphasized on the need of research required for this purpose as now philanthropy has now been included in SDG’s to use funds  for development purpose. Ms. Shazia said that credibility and certification is very important before grants for donations. A MoU has been signed by PCP and Quaid-e-Azam university to introduce philanthropy as a sunject. She concluded by quoting William Penn ““I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.”

Mr Shoaib Sultan started by sharing an incident from his life when he asked his colleague regarding his experience in Britain while studying. He appreciated the governance there however felt the lack of any system for the funding of poor and needy.  

He then highlighted the fundamental principles of Mr Edhi which helped him to become a phenomena.Once Mr Edhi was summoned by UNICEF to promote city planning however he refused angrily when he was offered grant of expenses by them. He never thought about himself and highly opposed the idea of doing so. His only purpose of life was to serve others. Not only rich but poor also choose him for donations as they trusted him. Once he was even punished by Pakistan Army as a suspect at the site of accident. It is very difficult to define him but the terminology by A. R. Rehman i.e. a social reformer is the best of all. He concluded his remark by saying that running an organization is not a one man show. There are hundreds of people associated with single projects. Although Mr Edhi has left us but his efforts has resulted in producing hundreds of people with same aim as him.

Comments:

Comments were added by the attendants. Youth were specially urged to share their views regarding Mr Edhi and his work. A few of them are listed below.

·         Mr. Azhar Saleem from Human development foundation mentioned our roles in highlighting Mr Edhi thus resulting in grant of nobel Peace Prize which could be improve Pakistan’s eminence in the global community.

·         Mr. Mustafa Siddiqui from the audience shared the unique feature of Edhi Welfare Trust that people stand in queues in order to donate to his foundation. It is the matter of trust. There are many trusts who spend more on than the provided funds on their décor. People need to believe in him. A question was raised by a participant about the quality factor which is usually absent in other organizations

·         Sadaf Yousaf said that charity element is not emphasised. People do not donate for research. Its not easy to win the confidence of masses. What are their strategies to battle social crimes. There is need to increase their potential.

·         Dr Mehmood A Khawaja dedicated a piece of poetry to Mr Edhi.

·         Mr Yasir Dil purposed to introduce Mr. Edhi’s ideology as a subject.

Suggestions:

Suggestion to incorporate social work with the research in SDPI.

Capacity building of the locals to deal with their problems.
Introduce Philanthropy as a subject

Conclusion:

Dr Suleri concluded the discussion by saying that our nation does not lack resources rather they lack ideas to get maximum benefit from them. We need to be free of labels of sects and groups for the service of mankind.