Arfa Karim Randhawa : Tribute to World's youngest Microsoft certified professional
To be truthful I have never felt so sad while making a post. Yes, we the Technology Bay wants to make this post a tribute to Arfa Karim Randhawa : The child computer prodigy of Pakistan who said goodbye to this world for ever on 14 January 2012.
Arfa was born to a Jatt Randhawa family in Faisalabad as a the daughter of Col Amjad Karim on 2 February 1995.She in 2004 at the age of nine years became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) in the world, a title she kept until 2008.She was invited by Bill Gates to visit the Microsoft Headquarters in the USA.Bill gates was virtually astounded by the genius of the Pakistans IT girl.After returning to Pakistan from a visit to Microsoft headquarters, Arfa gave numerous television and newspaper interviews.
On 2 August 2005, Arfa Karim was presented the Fatimah Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of Science and Technology by the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Shaukat Aziz.She also received the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award again in August 2005 from the President of Pakistan.Arfa Karim is also the recipient of the President's Award for Pride of Performance, a civil award granted to people who have shown excellence in their respective fields over a long period of time. She is the youngest recipient of this award. In recognition of her achievement Arfa was made brand ambassador for Pakistan Telecommunication Company's 3G Wireless Broadband service named EVO in January 2010.
Arfa Karim has also represented Pakistan on various international forums, she was invited by the IT Professionals of Dubai for a stay of two weeks in Dubai. A dinner reception was hosted for her there, which was attended by the diagnostics of Dubai including the Ambassador of Pakistan. During that trip, Arfa was presented with various medals and awards.
In November 2006, Arfa Karim was invited by Microsoft to be a part of the keynote session in the Tech-Ed Developers conference held in Barcelona. She was the only Pakistani among over 5000 developers in that conference.
As of 2011, at the age of 16, Arfa Karim was studying at Lahore Grammar School Paragon Campus in her second year of A Levels. She suffered from cardiac arrest after an epileptic seizure on December 22, 2011 and was admitted to Lahore’s Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in critical condition.
On January 9, 2012, Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft, has made contact with Arfa’s parents, and directed his doctors to adopt “every kind of measure” for her treatment. Gates’ doctors contacted Arfa’s Pakistani doctors and received details about the illness through internet.
On January 13, 2012, Arfa Karim started to improve and some parts of her brain showed signs of improvement. Arfa felt desperately ill the previous month and doctors say that she had suffered brain damage, leaving her in a coma at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Lahore. Her father, Amjad Karim Randhawa, said Microsoft had raised the possibility of flying Arfa to the US for care.
On January 14, 2012 16 year old Arfa Karim died at 9:50 PM (Pakistan Standard Time) at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore. Her Namaz e Janaza was offered in Cavalry Ground Lahore at 10 a.m. on January 15, 2012.On 15 January 2012, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced that the name of Lahore Technology Park would be changed to Arfa Software Technology Park.
I would like to be….
Like a bird in the sky
Flying freely and so high
Like a fish in the water
And the kings beautiful daughter
Like a tiny little mouse
Eating cheese around the house
Like a bear in the mountain
And the water in the fountain
Like a lion in the jungle
Roaring loudly with hunger
Like a monkey in the zoo
All the time copying you
Arfa Karim
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Like a bird in the sky
Flying freely and so high
Like a fish in the water
And the kings beautiful daughter
Like a tiny little mouse
Eating cheese around the house
Like a bear in the mountain
And the water in the fountain
Like a lion in the jungle
Roaring loudly with hunger
Like a monkey in the zoo
All the time copying you
Arfa Karim
Saturday, July 15, 2006
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