Friends of Iqbal offer Holy Celebration (Kirtan)
Sunday, July 31, 2016 ~ 9:00-11:00 AM
Gurdwara (Sikh Foundation of Virginia)
7250 Ox Road, Fairfax Station, VA 22039
http://www.sfova.org/
Please join us in prayer and celebration to remember our dear friend and esteemed colleague. The morning will include light refreshments after the Kirtan.
There is no dress code but it would be appropriate to wear pants and a scarf to cover the head.
Please contact Karima Saleh at ksaleh@worldbank.org for more information and to RSVP.
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This memorial website was created in memory of our beloved colleague and friend, Iqbal Kaur. We will remember her forever. Her spirit and influence will abide with us and her example will be with us for many years.
How does one create an extraordinary life? Iqbal had taught us just that. To know her is to be forever changed by her. We, who love her, commend her spirit to God and thank God for her life.
The purpose of this site is to facilitate access to condolence messages, tributes, photos/videos celebrating her life. We'd love to hear from you -- please feel free to leave a note, upload pictures/videos, light a candle and lay a flower. This site is for Iqbal as much as for you.
To her family and many friends we extend our heartfelt sympathy.
Dear Ramandeep and entire Kaur Family,
We in Iqbal's World Bank family are deeply saddened by our friend Iqbal's untimely passing. She was our beloved colleague and friend and we will cherish memories of her forever.
Iqbal was a remarkable colleague with strong passion and dedication to what she was doing and we will miss her devoted personality a lot at the World Bank. Iqbal will be remembered for her positive attitude, love for life and dedication to the issues she championed in her long career at the World Bank, always advocating for poor, excluded and underserved groups, such as children, youth, orphans, people with disabilities. She will be remembered for her warm personality, her professionalism and hard work. Just about two weeks ago many of us were in touch with her on the phone and via email and she was full of hope and commitment to come back to work. We all were so deeply shocked when the sad news arrived. Iqbal was an exemplary woman of courage and commitment and we all feel privileged to have known Iqbal and worked with her for many years.
We send our condolences to her entire family and friends. Iqbal will always remain in our minds and hearts,
Iqbal's friends and colleagues in the Social Protection and Labor Practice of the World Bank
Dear Kaur Family,
Iqbal's colleagues at the World Bank are deeply saddened by the news of her passing. She was a cherished colleague who made many friends during her long career.
She will be remembered for her warm smile, her positive spirit and energy, her professionalism and her commitment to the critical issues to which she dedicated her career. In particular, she will be remembered for the important work that she did to raise understanding of the importance of inclusion of people with disabilities in countries across the globe. Even when she was fighting her own battle with illness, she continued to work hard on behalf of the most poor and marginalized.
Most recently, along with her work on disability, she was working on an important flagship program in Ethiopia that ensures the delivery of essential services - including health, education and sanitation to local communities, as well as a social safety net in Malawi that provides support to the poorest households in the country. Her colleagues valued her for the passion and personal warmth.
Personally, as her manager over the last year, I was impressed by her strength and optimism in the face of hardship. She taught me a lot about courage and it was a privilege to know her.
We send our condolences to her family and dear friends. She will always be in our hearts,
Dena Ringold on behalf of her World Bank family
I am terribly sorry to learn of the loss of Iqbal. This news was as tragic as it was surprising. I can imagine what a difficult loss this is for the SP team, as Iqbal’s work with the Bank spanned over 20 years across at least two regions, touching hundreds of colleagues along the way.
If there's anything I can do for you or SP colleagues at this time, please let me know. Loss is when we need family most. I'd be honored to help however I can. In the meantime, I have you in my thoughts.
Keith Hansen on behalf of the Human Development Vice Presidency of the World Bank
Tributes
Leave a tributeI knew that you were always near
The first one to stay in my heart
And you never ever were apart
You were my life's most important part
I miss you so much my lovely sister
As today I realize what you meant to me
You are so special for me!
Love you . New additions to the family Hv happening. Making you proud . Miss you
It’s has been 6 years but feels like yesterday. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
A little bit of my sister will always live in me.
Rest in peace big sister, you've given me all I need.
I hope my sister feels at peace just like she always made me feel.
Like Sleeping Beauty my sister rests until the day our fates align.
My sister lifted me up all my life, now it's my turn to lift her.
Lobe you always ❤️❤️❤️❤️
One more year has passed. You are gone but not forgotten and always in my heart. I smile when I think of you as I was so lucky to have you in my life. Miss you my friend.
Until Next Year.
These memories last for miles and miles.
When she was by my side, the world was filled with life,
When she is not around, my days are full of strife.
A sister is a blessing, who fills your heart with love,
She flew in my life with the beauty of a dove.
Miss you sister more & more everyday
It has been 4 years since you left us. I missed you then and I miss you now. Honestly, so many people but no one to talk to. When I complained that I have only you as my close friend, you laughed and said "Do you need any one else?" You left me very alone here.
But really, thank you for our many, many talks about life and children. You gave me great hope! I am also trying to be very brave and hope you are watching me! Love, Saroj
Love,
Rana
You were also a fighter the way you fought with the kind of illness you went through but still kept your missions alive with your love and commitment.
We will always miss you my dear
Love you
Reshu
It's now been exactly a year and most of the family still feels you're on a world bank mission. We patiently wait for the emails containing travel itineraries that have us double checking our calendars, hotel phone numbers that half of us can never properly dial, and destinations that we have to search up on google.
It’s hard to describe the exact emotion we feel. I’d like to call it “sadness with a silver lining”. We miss you dearly but in our minds we know you made the most of the time you had on earth. You lived more in 50 years than most people do in 80 and the strength you showed while battling your illness belied comprehension.
Your physical form may very well be gone, but your infectious energy is alive and well. It lives on in every family member and every person in the world you managed to connect with. Believe me, if you could read this memorial website only then would you realize the magnitude of your aura.
Your life was never easy but as they say, diamonds aren’t formed without pressure. Thank you for giving your family so much, thank you for giving the world so much, thank you for existing.
To everyone who has left a tribute, wrote a story or shared a picture; The depths of our gratitude cannot be expressed by mere words. We are truly truly grateful as the stories you have shared serve to enrich our fond memories further. She always spoke very highly of her colleagues, and now as a family we can see why. You are all truly amazing individuals.
It’s about 11:45 pm as i’m writing this...another 15 minutes and this will be too late. You always hated my procrastination (yea sorry still working on that) but hey, at least we’re both night owls.
Until next year.
Love,
Rana
(and the family but more credit to me since i’m writing this).
This is the side of Iqbal I would like to pay tribute to today. Courageous Iqbal who embarked on unchartered waters, defied conventions, and in doing so worked miracles for children in Upper Egypt (and other powerless groups). Iqbal, that once created a work portfolio entirely out of Trust Funds, to maintain independence. Iqbal, that gave a toss about glory and limelight and was too busy going on mission to pick up a 'People First' prize that she had won.
It is sad to see that she could not be present to pick up her posthumous leadership award today either. Still, I can see her traveling to a better, happier, joyful and peaceful place where she is richly rewarded for all the good she did.
I am still shocked to hear the sad news of untimely death of our dearest colleague, Iqbal Kaur in such young age.
Iqbal and I used to speak in Punjabi and share her recent field experience in Africa as she was my next door neighbor in the office. She was very nice, humble, caring and superb human being for which she will be ever remembered!
May the “Waheguru” bless her soul in eternal peace and give you a courage and strength to bear this irreparable loss.
With profound sympathies and prayers.
Shams
We lost this dear soul very early in life. You came to earth to serve a purpose and you fulfilled it. You touched so many lives, including mine. We were friends.
inna lillahi wa in allah-e-rajioon
I observed your passion and commitment from afar. Till the end, you were concerned about work. What dedication!
You were a giver and compassionate, always caring about others, always asking after others, always not wanting to inconvenience others.
You were passionate about life and living, and always had a "smile" despite challenges you might be facing.
You were a fighter and very brave and strong, and your advise to others, to be tolerant.
we will miss you dearly but your memory will live on.
My deepest and heartfelt condolences to Iqbal's family: her son, her parents, her sister, brother, and others.
"I give you this one thought to keep--I am with you still - I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow,I am the sunlight on ripened grain, I am the gentle Autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning hush, I am the swift, uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not think of me as gone--I am with you still --in each new dawn."
May you rest in peace. إِنَّا للهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ
Sincere condolences to the family...
Until we meet again,
Nicole
Despite the short time we spent together as colleagues in the former MENA HD family, I soon realized what a special person you were, helping and mentoring the new comers and giving me wise advice about how to smoothen the transition. I was really very saddened by your very untimely passing, a real shock in many sense.
You will be missed by everyone who was fortunate to know you, including myself. My sincere condolences to your loved ones, friends and family.
~ Enis Barış
It was terrible to hear the news, I guess your lovely and cheerful spirit made me forget what you've been going through. I am honored and blessed to have known such a good and inspirational friend. I miss you but your lovely and gentle soul and all the happy moments we spent together will remain in my heart. Rest in peace dear...
Iqbal Aunty, I miss you and hope that you have found your special place with your maker, where love is eternal and hope is unbounded, just as you had made it for all those around you in this world.
We will always remember Iqbal for her passion on issues that we often do not always pay attention to, poor children, minorities, people with disabilities and other marginalized group. She was always a passionate advocate for those who have little voice. We will miss this voice in the Bank. On a personal note I appreciate her always asking about my own health and encouraging me to take better care and prioritize over everything else. Thank you Iqbal for all you have done for us as a group and for me personally! You will always remain in our minds and hearts.
Sincere condolences and sympathy to your family.
Leave a Tribute
Missing you
Year 3
Miss you so much, I wish you sweet sleep, my sister dear.
Although there's so much that you've left bare,
I hate that you had to endure such pain.
On my mind, your saddened eyes have left a stain. Love you always and miss you
Dear Iqbal,
We had a good run together you and I. We worked in a region that never ceases to surprise. People say “never a dull day in MENA” and it is true. We worked with counterparts who could be tough, funny, demanding, kind, unreasonable, all in one go. We worked through a revolution and assorted fragilities, in a region where change can be dramatic and sudden or escape you forever, wrapping you up in the glacial pace of studies, and pilots, and back and forth about not rocking the boat. Those years are sculpted in my heart and you have been such an important part of them. I was the rookie manager and you were the veteran – you had done it all, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Iran (oh, I know you loved working in Iran!). You had seen it all - directors, ministers, vice presidents, coming and going - you knew the ins and outs of operations, trust funds, Bank rules. But you never got distracted by all that razzmatazz, you cared about what matters, you cared about the poor, the children with no advocate, the youth with no future.
I don’t think we ever went on mission together. We should have travelled together to Cairo for the ceremony of the successful implementation of your project with the Ministry of Family. Thanks to you, eighty thousand disadvantaged families had the necessary papers to enroll their kids in school. You probably said you had to be somewhere else. I wonder if you made it up – I know you weren’t interested in all those idle festivities, your job was done and you were off preparing some other grant, some other project. So you sent me. Like that time when your child labor project in Egypt won the prize for best JSDF – you sent Mahmoud to pick up the prize.
I was saying that in MENA the pace of change can be glacial. Well, not with you. And the difference that you made to those families who now have papers, and to those children who were working fourteen hour days kneeling in the mud to make bricks but thanks to you had a chance for some education, that was its own small revolution, and it will stay with them forever. And your energy and dedication will stay forever in my heart.
I miss you, my friend. May you rest in peace. I am thinking of you.
Roberta
Mission to Somali Regional State, Ethiopia
Dear Iqbal,
I recall the mission we had together to Somali Regional State in Ethiopia to look into the status of basic service delivery. While struggling with your illness, you kept pace in visiting the remote woredas of the region and in guiding us during our discussions and site visits. You were so concerned about the deep rooted challenges existing in the region to provide access to basic services to the needy. During the discussion with the beneficiaries and vulnerable members of the community, you listened to every bit of their problems, touched and passionately pursued the issues in the follow up discussions with the Regional Government and Donors.
Your professionalism, energy and dedication to make a difference even out of that brief engagement was an enlightening experience for me. It was also entertaining and full of fun to see you singing and skillfully dancing the cultural Somali songs (video uploaded). Finally, because of your illness you had to return back to Addis a day before the end of the mission. It is so sad and touching that you were not able to fully recover after that mission.
As member of the team, you were so supportive, caring and appreciative of your colleagues. I remember your back to office email sent to the management which was filled with words of appreciation showing your compassion and love to others. The beautiful artifact you brought me from India has been loved by my kids and continued to decorate my living room. Though you passed, the memories of your big heart, professionalism and generosity remains with us and forever.
May God Rest Your Soul with lasting Eternity!!!
Demelash Demessie (Ethiopia Country Office)