Author Bill Gates mourns as world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional dies @ 16

A teenager who at age nine
became the world’s youngest
Microsoft Certified Professional
has died after suffering
complications resulting from an
epileptic stroke.
Arfa Karim Randhawa, 16 from
Faisalabad, Pakistan was given
the Microsoft Certified
Professional award at 9 and
was subsequently invited to
Microsoft’s headquarters by Bill
Gates where she impressed the
executives with her
programming knowledge.
After Karim fell ill and was taken
to hospital, Bill Gates apparently
reached out to the family and
offered to pay for her medical
care, proposing moving Karim
to the U.S. for better treatment,
although doctors decided it was
against her best interests given
she was on a ventilator.
Her father, Amjad Karim,
revealed that he was saddened
to learn of her death and the
loss of such a rare talent.
Funeral prayers were offered on
Sunday in Lahore before her
body was taken to her native
village Ram Dewali, Faisalabad,
for burial.