Gul Muhammad is going the extra mile!
At a roadside dhaba (tea shack) in Qasim Bughio village in Hala (Sindh), TCF student Gul Muhammad brews and serves tea from sundown to midnight. Gul Muhammad stepped up to take this job after his father fell severely ill and his mother’s meagre earnings as a farmer could not make …Read More
From Bhai Pheru Village to LUMS!
The sun was setting on the dusty streets of Bhai Pheru in Punjab as Ayesha stood before the Chaudhry (the tribal leader of the village), alongside her father and grandfather, holding her acceptance letter from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in her hand. Her heart was pounding in …Read More
A First-Generation Doctor!
Growing up, Aqsa often saw her parents struggle to pay for her education. They would often have to forego meals to cover the cost of her education at a local private school. Even as a child, she was very conscious of how hard her father worked as a manual laborer …Read More
From Orangi Town to Whitman College & Oxford – The Story of Kainat Ansari
“Education is the best tool. It is the best investment, because when you empower an individual with education, you do not change one individual, you transform a whole generation. The generation that will be coming from me or my siblings or from my cousins, they are going to be an …Read More
Fruit-seller’s son, TCF alumnus graduates from GIKI
In a small, mud-brick house of Khuda ki Basti, a slum in Karachi, the power is out, mosquitos are buzzing around, and rainwater…
TCF Alumna Iram, a policewoman #ChoseToChallenge!
“A policewoman? What kind of job is that for a girl?” Iram’s relatives would ask her mother…
The Power Of A Father’s Dream
It’s 7:00 am. Amjad, while sitting cross legged on the floor, in a small room of his home in Korangi, is having breakfast with his wife and six daughters, all clustered around the food mat…
On The Spinning Wheel
As temperatures peak at midday, Aslam, a student of class 3 in the TCF School in Naushahro Feroze, Sindh, returns home. Without a moment’s delay, eight-year-old Aslam changes into his home attire before taking his place behind the spinning wheel…
A Nurse On Duty
In the twilight of dawn each day, Adnan wakes up to the incessant chirping of crickets. He puts on a crisp white uniform, and clips a badge onto its pocket labelled, Assistant Nurse, The Aga Khan Hospital. As he steps into the hospital’s red brick…
A Mother’s Prayer
The house is sparkling. There is not a speck of dust to be seen, I observe as Rabia, a student of TCF School, Chamankotli Campus in Muzaffarabad, quickly leads me into her small courtyard where her mother…
A Will Unshaken
“What is there to learn in a classroom? Most girls your age are married already. Instead of burying your head in books, you should be learning household chores.”…
Towards the Light
“It was just another morning in Muzaffarabad; I was pregnant with my fourth child, busy getting my chores done, when suddenly the ground seemed to sway one way and the house lurched the other. Instantly I knew that it was an earthquake…
Fighting Against the Odds
“My interest in taekwondo developed when I was 8. My cousin had signed up for martial arts classes near our home in Ittehad town, a low-income settlement on the outskirts of Karachi. I started going there with him to learn different forms…
Breaking the Mould
When she was little, Samina Noreen, living in Moza Kot Sharif, a small village in the Chiniot district of Punjab used to rouse from her sleep for prayers; bowing her head in prostration, beseeching, “O Allah, please help me continue school.”…
Rebuilding a New Life
It was 2007; thousands of people were forced to flee their homes in Bajaur Agency as the Pakistan Army intensified its operation against the militants. Jawwad, who was just seven at that time, can clearly recall the horror…
A Long Walk to Education
“My parents enrolled me in kindergarten at TCF School, Sumar Goth Campus, located near the coastline of Karachi, but soon pulled me out because it was nearly 35 minutes to school on foot each way…
‘Beauty’ of Education and Enterprise
As we make our way inside TCF’s Cowasjee Campus, we spot Fizza Naz sharing a lighthearted moment with her ex-Principal in her office….
Basit Says ‘Hello’ to a Brighter Future
“When I came to this college for my interview, I was just sitting there nodding my head in a ‘yes’ and shaking it for a ‘no’
Defying Stereotypes through Entrepreneurship
By Usman Mujtaba
Surrounded by uncertainty when his father met an unfortunate accident, Wajid Ali’s story reflects a young man’s resilience in the face of adversity…
A Village Transformed by Education
By Usman Mujtaba
When TCF opened its first school in Minhala, it was a challenge to convince the community to send their daughters to school…