King without a crown
#EdhiForAll
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. (His mother gave 2 pennies one for him and the other for someone in need). When Edhi was at the tender age of eleven his mother became paralyzed and later got mentally ill. For him, the world of suffering became his tutor and source of wisdom.
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 something that he had to do even if he had to walk to the streets if he had to beg for this purpose. He was mentioned as Pakistan’s form of Mother Teresa, and the BBC marked that he was deliberated as “Pakistan’s most valued personality and was understood by some as nearly a saint.”
For over 60 years he ran a non-profit social welfare organization called Edhi foundation which had the world’s largest private-owned ambulance service network. The Edhi Foundation is funded entirely by private donations and all of its services are offered to people irrespective of ethnicity, religion, or status.
Members of Circle 1 were given different roles for the first week, Abaad was tasked to work towards raising awareness regarding the Edhi foundation, and its efforts towards serving humanity.
My focus for the first week of collecting donations for the Edhi foundation was to first, bring all of the circle leaders on one page and devise a strategy that would be implemented by the whole batch. I was involved in the process of poster making and then promoting the cause on social media such as Twitter and WhatsApp to raise awareness and light the fire to the spirit of giving among the community. This week's strategy was more focused on an outward audience whereas next week's agenda is to work on the audience closer to home- Abaad
Placards with the hashtag Edhi for all were used to create personalized posts to further promote the cause.
Following is the experience of another member from Circle 1 and her efforts for the Edhi campaign.
For the Edhi foundation, I raised funds through social media. I reached out to my inner circle of friends and family by putting my fundraising goal on my WhatsApp status and Instagram story. It helped me a lot, and I raised a donation of 3000. Social media made it easy for me to ask for a donation from my peers- Mahnoor
Next is the experience of Asma and some details regarding her participation in the campaign.
I have contacted my friends through WhatsApp and Instagram on a personal level. Posters and information were not only shared in status and stories, rather people were contacted personally too. Up till now, I have contacted 30+ people to donate to the cause. People reshared the appeal too. But no monetary response as yet. This week I have been focusing on social media more- Asma
Another member’s experience is as follows;
I started by approaching a few startups, some of them I have worked with or some from my friend’s and family’s references. The overall response wasn’t really positive. Although, some of them agreed to donate but didn’t confirm the day and time for their donations. So I will try reaching them once again. One company’s CEO, I have worked with, agreed to donate but refused to share the receipt as he isn’t comfortable with exposing the amount he will donate.
At this point, I am a little disappointed but I will try reaching out to at least the rest of the startup companies I have on my list. I also posted on Twitter, and a few from my connection responded that they have donated. So, I am happy with that. Hopefully will reach out to more people by next week- Hira
Overall the experience regarding this activity was quite positive and eventful as it provided an opportunity to get out of the comfort zone and probably interact with individuals that never would have happened normally.
He was known by many names, which include Saint, Angel, Messiah, A King without a crown, and the richest poor man, but for us, he’ll always be our Edhi Baba.
