ALKHOBAR, 8 April 2008 — Dozens of stories are printed on the pages of Arab News daily and it isn’t often that we get the chance to let our readers know how the news plays out — for better or worse.
Back in the Spring of 2001, we first wrote in Arab News about the Shafquat sisters, Isbah, Afsah and Afrah, who lived in Karachi, Pakistan. The girls had a number of international firsts in terms of attaining various IT certifications at young ages. But their future was uncertain. Their parents, Dr. Shafquat Mahmood, a physician, and Mrs. Akhter Jahan, put every possible resource into their daughters’ education, leaving the family’s budget stretched to the limit. There was great anxiety concerning how the family would finance higher education for the three girls.
After graduation from secondary school, the oldest, Isbah, began studying at Pakistan’s Foundation University in 2004. Isbah married while continuing her studies, and now has a son Ashhad. She should be graduating from university shortly. In 2006, Afsah was accepted to study on scholarship in the United States at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. Even though Afsah’s parents were extremely nervous about allowing their beloved daughter to go so far away on her own, they knew that MIT would offer her the best future. At MIT, Afsah has continued to be a star.
In January, we learned that the youngest Shafquat, Afrah, had earned five A’s in her Advanced Subsidiary Level Exams (AS level) and was anxiously waiting in Karachi to learn if she would be accepted at a university abroad. Even as terrible violence shook Karachi in the last few months, Afrah has had to focus on her academics and find the willpower to ignore the terror in the streets. Then yesterday, the following e-mail arrived. It is with great delight that we share it with all our readers:
“Hey Molouk,
“I have great news! Thanks be to Allah, I got an admission offer from MIT and having received an absolutely great financial aid package, I have accepted it!! I am so happy! I know you will be extremely happy for me too. Now, God Willing, it will be two of us, Afsah and I. And by 2012, we both will be graduates. Actually, Afsah would have done her Master’s from MIT by then, as she will receive her Bachelor’s degree in 2010.
“I received the package recently and it just seemed so nice to look at that letter, on which it was written: ‘Afrah Shafquat-MIT Class of 2012.’ We only dreamt of this, and having achieved this, it seems so much like a fantasy. Getting admission into Operation Badar, IT Certifications and then a great university! My family and I are extremely excited and so happy! Wish you were here celebrating with us!”
Congratulations to you dear Afrah. With hard work and God’s Grace, may your dreams continue to be fulfilled.
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