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My Father, Sheikh Muhammad Saleem, was born in 1938 in Chiniot to a middle-class business family. The only child of his parents, he was the first in his family to go to college and graduated in 1963 from the newly set up IBA in Karachi. After living and working in Karachi for 45 years, he eventually shifted to Lahore. At the age of 73, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and passed away after a year in 2012.

A deeply compassionate person, Abbu believed the only thing that mattered was a person’s heart. He would go out of his way to help anyone in need, monetary or otherwise, irrespective of the person’s status in society. He helped countless people silently and sincerely, nobody was turned back empty-handed. He built a free school and hospital in Bhai Pheru to help the local community find access to basic education and healthcare. He lit up the lives of the people nearest and dearest to him, from his children to his grandchildren and his friends. Whatever I know about compassion and generosity, I learned from him.