The Power of Constructive Work

ARTICLES OF WISDOM He dedicated himself to taking the injured and sick to hospitals and carrying unclaimed bodies to cemeteries. Seeing his sincerity and hard work, people began to support him. He bought more ambulances. Today, his fleet includes 350 vehicles, all equipped with sirens, radios, and oxygen cylinders. He also purchased two helicopters to reach those in distant areas. Along with this, he set up hospitals, maternity homes, orphanages, and other welfare centers. Recently, he acquired 11 acres of land to bring all his services together in one place. The site will also have a field for landing and housing helicopters. Thirty years earlier, Edhi had been so poor that when his mother fell ill, he had neither the money for medicine nor the means to take her to a hospital. She died in great pain. But her death gave him new purpose. The shock made him realize how many poor people must suffer in the same way, with no one to help them. He resolved to create a welfare organization to serve those in need. Thirty years ago, he began this institution in the simplest of circumstances. Today, it has grown so much that its annual budget is 120 million rupees. The man who once could not afford medicine for his dying mother now provides food and clothing for 7,500 people at his center. Abdul Sattar Edhi received the international Magsaysay Award. In June 1989, the widely read American magazine Reader’s Digest published a feature praising him, summarized