Arfa Karim Randhawa - A brief biography

Here is a brief biography of Arfa Karim Randhawa, the world youngest MCP - Microsoft Certified Professional, who passed away today on Saturday January 14, 2012 at CMH Lahore. She had said in an interview after receiving the award:

It means a lot to me, because it helped me get recognition worldwide and to fulfill the dreams of my parents, especially my late grandfather, Ch. Abdul Karim Randhawa. I am thankful to Almighty Allah and my teachers, without whom I could not have achieved this honor. This is just the beginning. 

Emre Berkin (left), chairman of Microsoft’s Europe,

Middle East and Africa region, and Jawwad Rehman,

Microsoft’s country manager for Pakistan, meet with Arfa.

Arfa Karim Randhawa was born in 1995 in Jatt Randhawa family was a student from Faisalabad in Pakistan, who in 2004 at the age of 9 years, became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) in the world, a title she kept until 2008. She was invited by Bill Gates to visit the Microsoft Headquarters in USA.S. Somasegar, the vice president of the Software Development Division, wrote about it in his blog.She also wrote a poem about Bill Gates.

On returning to Pakistan, Arfa had numerous interviews on almost all of the country’s known television channels and newspapers. In August 2005, Arfa Karim received the Fatimah Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of Science and Technology, presented by the Prime Minister of Pakistan at that time. She also received the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award again in August 2005 by the President of Pakistan.Arfa Karim is also the recipient of the President’s Award for Pride of Performance. This is a very high level civil award granted to people who have shown excellence in their respective fields over a long period of time. Arfa is till now the youngest recipient of that award ever.

Arfa with Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and S. Somasegar at Microsoft Headquarters USA

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. She also flew a plane in a flying club in Dubai at the age of 10, and received the first flight certificate.

In November 2006, Arfa was invited by Microsoft to be a part of the keynote session in the Tech-Ed Developers conference held in Barcelona. The theme of the conference was “Get ahead of the game” and Arfa was presented as a true specimen of being ahead of the game. She was the only Pakistani among over 5000 developers in that conference.

As of 2011, at the age of 16, Arfa Karim is 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 2, 2012 Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani visited the hospital with his daughter Fiza Batol Gilani to inquire about the health of Arfa Karim Randhawa.

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.

On January 13, 2012, The condition of world’s youngest MCP Arfa Karim is improving and some parts of her brain have shown signs of improvement. Arfa fell desperately ill last month and doctors say she has 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 years old passed away at 9:50 PM (Pakistan Standard Time) at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore.

الذين اذا اصابتهم مصيبة قالوا انا لله وانا اليه راجعون