Bilquis Edhi declared as the person of Decade
Bilquis Edhi, the widow of Abdul Sattar Edhi and is awarded as a person of the Decade. As a humanitarian, social worker and one of the avid philanthropists in Pakistan. She grabbed various national and foreign awards in recognition of achievements. Among them are:’
Hilal-e-Imtiaz’, Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice (2015), and the ‘Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service’ in 1986 and the recipient of the ‘Lenin Peace Prize.’
Currently, serving as a Co-chair of the Edhi foundation. Her charity runs many services in Pakistan including a hospital and emergency service in Karachi. Their charity has saved over 16,000 unwanted babies. Her husband Abdul Sattar Edhi died on 8 July 2016.
Why Bilquis Edhi is awarded as a person of the Decade
In 1952, the Jhoolas project was built by Edhi where 300 cradles are available throughout Pakistan where parents can abandon unwanted children. They carry the message “Do not kill, leave the baby to live in the cradle”.
This alternative is thought to have reduced the number of dead babies who are killed by their own parents given the alternative provided by the Edhi Foundation to leave the unwanted babies in the cradles.
I am a freelance writer studied Biochemistry at the University of Agriculture Peshawar in the faculty of Nutrition sciences.
