Summer 2010, Vol. 3, Issue 1 - Aga Khan University

eunionAlumni reunite!Reunion 2009 and the AKU Auditorium in Karachi was abuzz with conversation – friends who had not seeneach other for months, or even years, could be heard reminiscing about professors, lectures, labs and the overallmischief during their time at the University. The session opened with a handful of alumni speaking about howAKU has helped shape their world.“In school, we weretrained to be foot soldiers,”said Dr Junaid A. Razzak,MBBS ’94, who came to theUniversity in 1989 aftercompleting his secondaryeducation at a governmentschool. He recalled thathe and his classmateswere instructed to memoriselessons and regurgitateinformation onassessments, they werenot allowed to thinkcritically or defendideas, but merely acceptthem as fact.But AKU was anentirely different,strange world wheredialogue was considereda virtue. Initiallyresisting the change,Junaid recalls how hestayed aloof from discussions,from the“batting” of ideas. Butover time, he learntthat debate can resolvemany issues. Thoughhe learnt this lessonduring his five years atAKU, it was all the more apparentlater in his career. And this is whathe defines as his “true education”.Recalling his late father, Junaidshared how the University was“human”. Concerned about thehigh tuition cost of Aga KhanUniversity, at a parents’ receptionon the very first day of MedicalCollege, his father expressed hisfears to the former UniversityFrom left to right: Farah Kamal, ADE ’99, Alia Nasir Post-RN BScN ’96,Dr Rozina Karmaliani, Interim Dean, AKU-SON, Dr Saida Rasul,President Firoz Rasul, Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy, Chief Guest, and DrMuhammad Memon, Director, IED.AKUPresident Shams Kassim Lakha.And Mr Lakha turned around andsaid, “We select students based ontheir ability to be an asset for thiscountry. AKU will make sure thathe gets whatever he needs to be anexcellent doctor; do what you can,but he is now as much our responsibilityas yours.” Junaid believesthat very few institutions can makethat claim and said, “I know thatmy father is not the onlyrelieved parent that AKUhas actually helped.Junaid returned to AgaKhan University and now isin charge of the Hospital’sDepartment of EmergencyMedicine. And tohim, the Universitystill upholds thesame principles.“Success is not adestination that youever reach but ratherit is the quality of thejourney, a journeythat started at AKU,”said Alia Nasir, Post-RN BScN ’96, whocomes from a smalltown in theHyderabad district ofSindh and is currentlythe Principal,Liaquat NationalCollege of Nursing inKarachi. Through afortunate encounterwith the AKU PublicAffairs team, she wasintroduced to AKU-SON and realisingthe potential of the nursing professionin Pakistan, she enrolled.Completing her Diploma inNursing in 1990, Alia started as anAKU community health nurse atBaba Island in 1992, one of the threesmall islands within the Karachi harbour.She helped introduce the primaryhealth care model in the areaand a water and sewage system –many years later, this system contin-6