Tabinda Shiekh
“I’m a mother, I’m a wife, I’m a trained physician but I am currently working for the Nova-Scotia Government as a policy analyst. My other interests include travelling and cooking. I was the oldest of five siblings, my father was in the military therefore we traveled a lot across Pakistan, that’s where I’m from. In the military you are constantly moving to different cities, that was basically my childhood. My father was a very strict person in the sense that, he wasn’t abusive but he was really disciplined. We had a disciplined but an enjoyable childhood. From my very youth, I wanted to become a doctor. One of the reasons was my mother’s friend; she had the same name as I, she was a doctor and was inspired by her, I wanted to be just like her. After elementary school, we settled down in Karachi which is a beautiful city in Pakistan. Where I studied at St Joseph’s Convent School and St Joseph’s Convent College followed by Sindh Medical College for my degree. I moved here to Canada 25 years ago with my husband. Upon arriving, they said to me you’ve been out of practice for too long, and that I had to go and get a refresher. It would have been hard to bring the whole family and do the training; unfortunately they don’t offer it here in Canada, I would have had to gone back to my country of Pakistan. Generally it’s been great living in Canada, I’m happy here.”
