Mr. Edhi is busy with work at his office in the Mithadar of Karachi

The Edhi Foundation has over 300 offices across Pakistan. It carries out a broad range of activities from dispatching ambulances to accidents and running orphanages to providing shelter to women who have nowhere to turn for help. Amid the rampant ethnic conflicts and sectarian struggles in Karachi in the 1990s, the Foundation’s emergency services drew high public acclaim on humanitarian grounds. Because Karachi municipal authorities cannot provide emergency medical services, this NGO bought ambulances at its own expense and carries out the transportation of sick or injured people. Citizens who witness accidents reportedly often call the Edhi Foundation rather than the municipal service.

Abdul Sattar Edhi’s activities have the roots in the merchant community, called the Memon, into which he was born. Since the years of British rule, many communities of Muslim merchants have focused on welfare activities within their own communities. Mr. Edhi started his operations with welfare activities within the Memon, and went beyond the boundary of the small community to develop into a nationwide NGO.