July 2008

Abdul Sattar Edhi was sometimes referred to as the Mother Teresa of Karachi. He and his wife have transformed the humanitarian landscape of Pakistan. He created an organization that helps hundreds every day from donations from the general public and is also the country’s biggest ambulance network. He has gained no personal benefit from it other than the satisfaction of his work. In the outskirts of Karachi, the mental hospital hosts mentally ill people, as well as ex-drug addicts. The conditions of life, despite Edhi’s efforts, are harsh. There for a documentary shooting, I came across a women, an Afghan refugee who was displaced during the Taliban regime, chained to a wall and dressed as a man, with a painted mustache. As I was filming her, she sang the Afghan national anthem for me..