Reflections from Pakistan Visit
In June 2024, I had the honor of visiting the A G Khan Foundation site in our village of Barazai, Pakistan. This was the first time in 25 years that I was returning to Pakistan, and this time with my husband and our two children. My husband and I are both medical and behavioral healthcare providers, so this visit was of particular interest to us both personally and professionally. I wasn’t prepared for just how emotional this trip would be for me, and how impactful. I told my father, “I feel like I’m coming home!”
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I recently found the original A G Khan Memorial Hospital floorplans from August 2020, developed by my father, Naimat Khan. Following a needs assessment, the hospital was the first project of the Foundation and the first healthcare facility of its kind in our village of Barazai, Pakistan, and we were eager to get it right. As a family with professional experience in business and administration in the private and nonprofit sector, program management, healthcare, higher education, fund development, finance, and construction, we all came together to offer input on the plans. While we came up with various versions of the hospital (or “clinic” as we were envisioning it as, at the time), the final result included input from those in Pakistan who were familiar with local needs, other medical facilities in the region, the physical site, construction compliance requirements, available materials during the COVID-19 pandemic, and cultural factors to take into consideration.
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Visiting the actual hospital we had envisioned was an amazing experience. As we turned off the main road to drive towards Barazai, my father pointed out the road sign directing the public to the hospital, and I felt my excitement build. As we got closer to the site, I was surprised to see the paved road and signs for the hospital and other AGKF program buildings. The last time I had visited Barazai, 25 years earlier, the roads were still unpaved and there were barely any buildings on our site, and all were for personal use. I had to reorient myself to the new sites surrounding me. As I stepped foot onto the hospital site, I felt very emotional - to see our planning discussions about floorplans and services result in the facility before me, serving the entire Chach region, was frankly surreal and inspirational.
I felt profoundly grateful to Barazai Welfare Society (BWS) for their exemplary administration of the hospital and additional AGKF programs. One can dream up programs, build facilities to house them, and fund them, but it literally takes a village to keep services running and to interface with the public. I was given a tour of the hospital, and found myself almost in tears as I observed a woman and her young child in the women’s waiting room for their appointment. This had been the aim all along - to serve local families and provide access logistically and financially to quality medical services that otherwise would’ve been out of reach or difficult to attain. At the AGK Memorial Hospital, medical treatment is provided for free, and medications are provided at cost. In its first month of opening in January 2022, almost 500 patients were served (and as of January 2025, we’re looking at almost double that amount served monthly). I was impressed by the new electronic system implemented in the pharmacy to track inventory and distribution of medications. I was pleased to meet Dr. Taufeeq Khan, the main physician who treats patients and provides medical oversite daily at the hospital. Again, you can build a facility, but it takes dedicated medical providers and professional staff for the coordination and smooth delivery of needed services.
I was told of the new Sehat medical card program that was in the works to provide 400 zakat-eligible (low income) families with free medication, covered by both the AGKF and BWS. I was relieved to hear of these efforts, as there had still been families for whom the medication cost had posed a barrier to access. Now, even more could be served and there would be certainty of them receiving quality treatment and medication from trusted pharmaceutical companies.
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From there, I then toured the AGK Education and Skills Center. As an initial program, a 3-month long Free Tailoring Course for cohorts of 15 female students, was developed in May 2023 and provided twice daily to ensure convenient access. This was the first vocational program for young women developed in Barazai, and it quickly also drew interest and participation from women from neighboring towns.
As I toured the space, I found myself recalling my maternal grandmother, Zojan Khan, sister to A. G. Khan, as I was told she had had a tailoring business and also taught others to sew. My first cousin (grand daughter to Zojan Khan) also currently has a tailoring business of her own and I am proud of her vocational efforts. I have witnessed (and experienced myself) that these are important skills that get passed down generation to generation, and are also a way of preserving our culture and traditions. Because the Tailoring classes had already ended for the day, to my regret I didn’t have the opportunity to directly meet the sewing instructor and her assistant, or the female students enrolled, but I did get to see the workspace with the sewing machines lined up neatly. I never expected that as of January 2025, this program would result in a 100% retention and graduation rate, with 180 student graduates prepared with the skills and materials to set up their independent businesses.
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We returned to Barazai on Eid ul Adha day and visited my late paternal grandmother’s home, where I was flooded with memories of my childhood and teenage years. I excitedly shared these memories with my daughter. We visited the local cemetery where we prayed for our ancestors, including A. G. Khan, our namesake for the Foundation. I only wish he could’ve seen in his lifetime the impact the Foundation would have on Barazai and surrounding areas, even in its early stages.
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It is difficult to articulate what it’s like to return to one's homeland after so many years…on the one hand, it feels like yesterday with so much familiar and unchanged, and on the other hand I am witnessing impactful change and progress through AGKF's and BWS's efforts.
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I left Barazai not just viewing it as a place of memories and deep personal connection and history, but also as a place that fills me with hope for its future, and a renewed commitment to inshaAllah continue these efforts to the best of my abilities. I wanted my children to witness all this and to also carry a sense of connection, determination, and responsibility for the people of our homeland, just as I know my own father desired that for me. I am indebted to all those who contributed to the Foundation's vision coming to fruition, and I am excited to return to see how it continues to develop further in the years ahead.
