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When you hear the name
“Arfa” you think of what it stands for, it stands for “greatness”, and
that is what people around the world know Arfa Karim as, a young girl
that stood as a pinnacle example of greatness and nothing less. She was
the light of hope in our otherwise dark abyss.
What can simply be described as a tragic loss for Pakistan Arfa Karim passed away Saturday night on 14th
of January 2012 at the age of sixteen after suffering from an epileptic
seizure and cardiac arrest she had been admitted for 26 days in
intensive care at the Combined Military Hopsital (CMH) Lahore.
Born in 1995 Arfa Karim was the youngest Microsoft Certified
Professional (MCP) she was given the honor of the World’s Youngest
Microsoft Certified Professional when she was only 9 years old in 2004.
Bill Gates, the Chairman of Microsoft, invited Arfa to visit the
Microsoft Headquarters in the US at the age of 10.
Soon after Arfa was also honored by the Pakistan Government for the
Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of Science and Technology in
August 2005, which she received from former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
She was also honored with Salaam Pakistan Youth Award which has been
set up buy our own Nobel laureate Dr. Abdul Salam, in the same year. In
addition, Arfa even won the Presidential Award for the Pride of
Performance.
Arfa represented her country Pakistan in a variety of international
forums; she was also invited as an honorable guest by the IT
professionals of Dubai for a two weeks stay. During that trip, Arfa was
awarded with a number of medals and awards from various tech societies
and computer companies in Dubai.
And as if that wasn’t enough proving that the sky is the limit Arfa
perhaps took the phrase literally and at the age of 10 was certified for
flying a plane at a flying club in Dubai.
Arfa also participated in Microsoft’s keynote sessions in the Tech-Ed
Developers Conference “Get ahead of the Game” in Barcelona, in 2006 she
was the only Pakistani among 5000 developers in that conference.
Arfa had big dreams for Pakistan, she wanted Pakistan to become one
of the top leading countries of the world in the field of Science and
Technology, and she wanted to create Digicon Valley in Pakistan which
similar to the Silicon Valley in India.
I believe that Arfa hasn’t gone, she is still lives in our hearts, and always will.
She’ll Meet You at the Gate
© Barbara Bailey (re-written by Mir Alidanish Ellahi)
“A beautiful garden now stands alone,
missing the one who nurtured it till it was fully grown,
But now she is gone,
Her flowers still bloom, and the sun it still shines,
Yet we’re so ignorant that we wait for a sign,
the rain is like tear drops, from the ones left behind,
The weeds lay waiting to take the gardens beauty away,
But the beautiful memories of its keeper are in our hearts to stay,
she loved every flower even some that were weeds,
So much love she would plant with each little seed,
But just like her flowers she was part of Gods plan,
So when it was her time he reached down His hand,
He looked through the Garden searching for the best,
That’s when he found Arfa, it was her time to rest,
It was hard for those who loved her, to just let her go,
But God had a spot in his garden, that needed a gentle soul,
So when you start missing Arfa, remember if you just wait,
When God has a spot in his garden, She’ll meet you at the gate….”
Arfa Karim truly a diamond in the rough.
Written by: Mir Alidanish Ellahi
