Even in their darkest hour, Edhi’s workers carry on his work

Karachi 

The air is heavy with grimness as Tauseef Ahmad, sitting behind a rusted window frame, receives the phone ringing constantly at the Edhi Centre near Sohrab Goth.

Putting it down he calls out Umair, an ambulance driver, who is trying to get into a red shirt, symbolic of Edhi workers.

The body of Abdul Sattar Edhi has just left the morgue for Meethadar so his family can look after the last rites, after it was brought there in the late hours of one of the harshest nights in the city when the great humanitarian breathed his last.

Despite being called a national tragedy, Edhi workers stand tall in the face of the grave hour and have not halted their work for even a single second.

“It’s been around 19 years since I first came here as a volunteer. I run a business but I decided to dedicate myself after I got inspired by Edhi sahib. I started off as a driver and fulfilled my responsibilities until recently when I now sit at a medical store and keep a tab on the ambulances. When his health had deteriorated earlier, we were clearly told that we will not stop our work,” said Tauseef.

Seventy-year-old Ghulam Hussain who has been driving ambulances for over 20 years, joins in as he shares that the volunteers have been taking turns to see Edhi’s face for the last time because of their duty hours: “We have been asked to skip the funeral if we’re on duty because there is no point in attending it if Edhi sahib’s mission is being ignored.”

With more than 1,500 ambulances in the country, it’s a marvel to see how the vehicles are always seen on the go to cater to any accident or disaster.

“We had met Edhi sahib many times but we didn’t have a heart-to-heart with him because mostly he met us on duty so he would inquire about our health, work and he would always shake our hands,” reminisced Tauseef.

“But he was very concerned toward those who had lost lives in tragedies that struck Karachi. We lost our volunteers in Karsaz Blast in 2007 and Ashura Blast in 2009 and he personally made sure that the families were looked after diligently. But in spite of all this, he never took anything from the state, rather he was the first one to arrive to bear any befallen catastrophe,” said Ghulam Hussain with a hint of pride.

“It’s definitely not easy being an ambulance driver because many times people vent out their anger on us; they would humiliate us and if there any skirmishes in two groups, it’s easy to become target of their violence. But someone has to go and help those people too so we are comfortable under our skin,” Tauseef pitches in.

He added that it was not just the ambulances which were running smoothly, but all workers were on their duties too as he showed another counter where a woman sat to take details of any new admission.

But Tauseef feels he is lucky that there have not been any prank accident calls as he confirms with a driver whom he has dispatched to Shafiq Morr following a car accident: “I have sent the ambulance at 9:02am and if somebody has died, the body would be brought here.”

Calling out to Umair again, who is also the son of Ghulam Hussain, Tauseef inquires if he got the medicines. Ghulam Hussain heads out as he shakes his head of how simple Edhi was. Straightening out his red shirt over his beige kurta shalwar, he pats on his son’s shoulder to begin their daily duty.

An ambulance hurries away on the road as the founder of the organisation rests in peace, assured by his workers’ dedication that even in the most turbulent times, Edhi sahib’s mission would carry on.