The very first Aga Khan University second-generation alumni are both women and nurses: Samira Karim ’06 and Roshanara Kabani ’83.
Roshanara Kabani has many reasons to celebrate: she is a member of the very first class to graduate from AKU; part of the inaugural class of the School of Nursing in Pakistan, renamed as the School of Nursing and Midwifery in 2011; and one of the first head nurses at the University Hospital.
“It was like a dream come true. First, I was honoured to be in the init
Roshanara with her daughter Samira and son Nizar. Photo: AKU
ial batch of a school that is a benchmark for nursing and midwifery education in Pakistan, and then I became a leader on the campus where I studied.”
Even after marriage, Roshanara wanted to continue working at her dream job. So she ended up with two homes – one in Karachi and one in Kuwait with husband Abdul Karim. When her daughter Samira was born, the AKU campus became her third home.
But for her family’s sake – Samira missed her father very much – Roshanara made the decision to move to Kuwait
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and work at a local hospital. When the 1990 Kuwait war broke out, the family returned to Pakistan for a few years but eventually went back to the Gulf. And then her husband passed away.
“Those were the worst days of our lives. Since I was educated to be a leader, I took over the role of the ‘father’ as well. I continued with my job in Kuwait for some time and then decided to return to Pakistan for the sake of my children’s education. Today, both of them, my daughter Samira and my son Nizar are well educated and well settled in their lives,” she said.
“It is very important to be a confident person – to believe in what you are capable of. The world can be a miserable place if you lose your confidence. My education at AKU empowered me, gave me confidence, which helped me not only in my professional life, but in my personal life as well.”
Roshanara is now helping others as a volunteer in her community.
Daughter Samira completed her schooling in Karachi and followed her mother’s footsteps by joining AKU’s School of Nursing and Midwifery.
When she completed her RN Diploma in 2006, they became the University’s first second-generation alumni. “It is an honour that we are proud of, an honour that we will carry forever. We are blessed that both of us have received degrees from the Chancellor, His Highness the Aga Khan.”
Samira completed her Post-RN BScN and MScN from the School in 2011 and 2015 respectively. Currently, she is a nurse manager at AKUH’s
Family Health Service Line.
“I am a proud nurse and a proud daughter of a nurse. What I am today is because of my education and the environment I lived in, on the campus and at home,” she says.
