‘Keep chasing your dreams’

1,447 students graduate from Hamdard University

KARACHI: As many as 1,447 degrees were awarded at the 22^nd Hamdard University convocation on Saturday.

Twenty-five students were presented gold medals for securing first position, while seven were awarded Shaheed Hakim Muhammad Saeed gold medals. The Institute of Engineers Pakistan Karachi Centre sponsored 13 gold medals awarded to interest students in the field of engineering. The prestigious Doctor of Medical Sciences degree was awarded to Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation founder Dr Syed Adibul Hasan Rizvi.

Microfinance programme Akhuwat founder and special guest Dr Amjad Saqib presented the degrees and gold medals to the graduates. “Life is all about dreams but the dreams you have while you’re awake are the most important. Dream and strive to pursue your dreams but also help others fulfill their dreams,” he told the graduates. He said that the same thing has been done in the Akhuwat microfinance programme when a woman approached him to lend her Rs10, 000. Akhuwat leant the needed amount with which she bought a sewing machine and in a year the woman returned the whole sum.



Dr Saqib shared that the Akhuwat programme that began with one man and a family has now spread over to 2.5 million families, which means it has reached 10 million people. He went on to say that the dreams of only those are fulfilled who possess the passion and will to follow them through. He said Saeed, the founder of Hamdard University, demonstrated this. “He turned a desert into an orchard.”

He said the wisest people were those who were able to see into the future, telling the students that they were lucky to have studied at a university established by such a personality. “A poor man is one who does not have a helper or patron. Hence, the students must be both helpers and patrons of the poor,” said Dr Saqib.

Hamdard University Chancellor Sadia Rashid said today was an important day for graduates and everyone else at the university. She told the graduates that the life will test them but they must strive to overcome the challenges they will face. She urged them to also contribute and play their part in making others’ lives better.



Praising Dr Saqib and his organisation, Rashid said that the entity started off with just Rs10,000 but has now reached 2.5 million people. She said that the beginnings of the Hamdard in India as well as in Pakistan were also ordinary ones. But later, both became big entities for herbal medicine and welfare.

Giving examples of the welfare services of the organisation, she said that the Hamdard Village School founded by Saeed for the education and learning of villagers helped one of its students, Najmin Ramzan to complete her matriculation from the school. She has pursued a BEMS in eastern medicine from Hamdard University and has also completed her house job at the Shifaul Mulk Memorial Hospital for Eastern Medicine, Rashid told the audience. Following in her footsteps, two students from the Hamdard Village School have reached Hamdard University and are enrolled in the BEMS course presently, she said.