Arfa Karim, the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), lost the battle of life after remaining admitted at a Lahore hospital on Saturday night.
On December 22, Arfa was admitted to Lahore’s CMH hospital after suffering cardiac arrest. On December 29, doctors said there was no hope for her survival, and that her life support could be switched off ‘at any time’.
However, she had then miraculously responded to certain stimuli, as recently as January 14. Arfa’s father, Amjad Karim Randhawa had said that she had shown the Plantar Reflex when her foot was stimulated. “Her toes curved slightly downward when her foot was tickled,” he said, adding that earlier she had exhibited the Corneal Reflex, whereby her eyes blinked a few times.
Doctors had said that her brain had shown activity over the past four days, making minor improvements.
When Arfa, now 16, was given the title of a Microsoft professional as a young child, she visited the company’s headquarters in the US. When she met Bill Gates himself, she had two questions: Why weren’t children allowed to work for Microsoft, and why such few women worked for the organization.
Her love for technology, however, started long before she was recognised internationally. After discovering computers for the first time at the age of five, she pestered her father for a personal computer, and after that there was no looking back.
Arfa’s father had earlier recalled the year in which his daughter passed the test which enabled her to be declared the youngest professional certified by Microsoft in the world. “When she passed the test at age nine, everyone thought the result was wrong,” he reminisced. She wanted to make software just like Bill Gates, he added. She would say that she wanted to work for children and poor people.
Proudly, he said she came from a ‘low-profile’ family, but she would always say she wanted to study all over the world and then come back to help the people in her village. Her dreams were never for herself alone.
Arfa’s achievements go far beyond recognition from Microsoft alone. The 16-year-old, a student of Lahore Grammar School’s Paragon campus, has represented Pakistan in various international forums. In 2005, the child prodigy received the Fatimah Jinnah Gold Medal from the government as well as the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award. In addition, she has received the president’s award for Pride of Performance, medals from IT professionals around the world, and also became a brand ambassador for PTCL in 2010.
Her talents however, are versatile. Besides excelling in the field of science and technology, Arfa also flew a plane at the age of 10. pakistan today

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LAHORE: In what could simply be described as an enormous loss for Pakistan, Arfa Karim, the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), Saturday night, lost the battle of life after remaining admitted here at Combined Military Hospital for 26 days, Geo News reported.

Arfa Karim was only sixteen years old.

Her funeral prayers will be offered on Sunday at 10 AM in Cantt area.

Arfa Karim remained in intensive care at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) after suffering an epileptic seizure and cardiac arrest a few weeks ago. After battling for life for 26 days, one of Pakistan’s brightest brains left this world for good.

Arfa’s father Colonel (Retd) Amjad Karim Randhawa, while takling to Geo News, said that, she had gone nowhere; she was still alive for her cause was alive. Going forward, Col Randhawa vowed to materialize her dreams.

To a question, he said that Arfa got the best of the medical treatments available, adding he was satisfied with it.

Born in 1995, Arfa Karim got the honor of 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 USA in the age of 10 only.

Later, in August 2005, Arfa was also honored by the Pakistan Government for the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of Science and Technology which she received from then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. She was also honored with Salaam Pakistan Youth Award in 2005 which has been set up by Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate Dr Abdul Salam. Moreover, Arfa has won the Presidential Award for Pride of Performance.

Arfa represented her country Pakistan on a variety of international fora. She was also included as the honorable guest by IT Professionals of Dubai for two weeks stay in Dubai. During that trip, Arfa was awarded by a number of medals and awards from various tech societies and computer companies working in Dubai.

Amazingly, she was certified for flying a plane at a flying club in Dubai at the age of 10.

Arfa also participated in Microsoft keynote session in the Tech-Ed Developers Conference held in Barcelona, in 2006. The theme of the conference was “Get ahead of the game” and Arfa was in fact a great example of being ahead of the game. the news

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Child prodigy: Aarifa Karim loses race for her life

LAHORE: Aarifa Karim Randhawa, the worlds youngest Microsoft certified professional lost the battle for her life at 9:15 pm on Saturday night after suffering from heart failure, her paternal uncle, Major Ahsan Randhawa confirmed.

Speaking to the media later, Aarifa’s farther, Amjad Karim Randhawa urged the public to follow up on the dreams Aarifa harboured, including building a Digicon Valley, working for the destitute, among other projects.

He described his late daughter as a guiding light for all.

Karim’s funeral prayers will be offered at the Ayub stadium in Cantonment at 10 am on Sunday, January 15, 2011. Later, the body will be shifted to Faisalabad where another funeral prayer will be offered at D Ground in People’s Colony in Faisalabad at 2 pm. Major Randhawa added that Aarifa Karim will be buried in her ancestral village, which is close to Faisalabad.

On December 22, Aarifa was admitted to Lahore’s CMH hospital after suffering cardiac arrest. On December 29, doctors said there was no hope for her survival, and that her life support could be switched off ‘at any time’.

However, she had then miraculously responded to certain stimuli, as recently as January 13. Aarifa’s father, Amjad Karim Randhawa had said that she had shown the Plantar Reflex when her foot was stimulated. “Her toes curved slightly downward when her foot was tickled,” he said, adding that earlier she had exhibited the Corneal Reflex, whereby her eyes blinked a few times.

Doctors had said that her brain had shown activity over the past four days, making minor improvements.

When Aarifa, 16, was given the title of a Microsoft professional as a young child, she had visited the company’s headquarters in the US.  When she met Bill Gates himself, she had two questions: Why weren’t children allowed to work for Microsoft, and why such few women worked for the organisation.

Her love for technology, however, started long before she was recognised internationally. After discovering computers for the first time at the age of five, she pestered her father for a personal computer, and after that there was no looking back.

Aarifa’s father had earlier recalled the year in which his daughter passed the test which enabled her to be declared the youngest professional certified by Microsoft in the world. “When she passed the test at age nine, everyone thought the result was wrong,” he reminisced. She wanted to make software just like Bill Gates, he added. She would say that she wanted to work for children and poor people.

Proudly, he said she came from a ‘low-profile’ family, but she would always say she wanted to study all over the world and then come back to help the people in her village. Her dreams were never for herself alone.

Aarifa’s achievements go far beyond recognition from Microsoft alone. The 16-year-old, was a student of Lahore Grammar School’s Paragon campus, and had represented Pakistan in various international forums.  In 2005, the child prodigy received the Fatimah Jinnah Gold Medal from the government as well as the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award. In addition, she had received the president’s award for Pride of Performance, medals from IT professionals around the world, and also became a brand ambassador for PTCL in 2010.

Her talents were versatile. Besides excelling in the field of science and technology, Aarifa also flew a plane at the age of 10 tribune.com.pk

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Arfa Karim passes away in Lahore

LAHORE: The youngest Microsoft professional, Arfa Karim passes away at the age of 16 in a Lahore hospital on Saturday, DawnNews reported.

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.

She was suffering from idiopathic epilepsy seizures which led to brain damage.

The medical experts say the epilepsy can be caused by various infectious and non-infectious diseases but in idiopathic epilepsy no underlying disease of the brain or body can be identified in the early or short investigations.

Arfa became the youngest Microsoft professional after completing her MCP in 2004 at the age of only 9.

Upon completing her course, Microsoft owner Bill Gates invited her to visit the company’s headquarters in the US. Software Development Division Vice President Somasegar also acknowledged her achievement in his blog.

Arfa was studying at the Lahore Grammar School`s Paragon Campus for her A Levels. She also received numerous awards and gold medals from private and government institutions for her achievement.

She received the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of science and technology in 2005, besides the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award.

She has also received President’s Award for Pride of Performance. She was invited to Microsoft Headquarters again in November 2006 as a part of the keynote session in the Tech-Ed Developers conference held in Barcelona.

Her funeral will be held at Cavalry Ground Lahore on Sunday, said Arfa’s father. Dawn

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