Children can really amaze you, their questions, their innocence, and their ability to not give up in the most challenging times are mere examples. One such fantastic girl we came across is Zunaira Shamim Khan.
Zunaira Shamim Khan was born with Craniosynostosis – a birth defect in which the bones in a baby’s skull join together too early. She also has Proptosis – bulging of one or both eyes and Hydrocephalus – a buildup of fluid in the cavities (ventricles) deep within the brain.
After many surgeries and dark days when the family was facing an emotional and financial crisis, they managed to pull through by remaining confident in their daughter, believing that she will thrive.
Now, 9-year-old Zunaira Shamim Khan is a certified voice-over artist and has her name etched in the Pakistan Book of World Records (at the age of 6).
Moreover, Zunaira is a social media star and features in fun videos alongside her brother on the channel – TeamZunaira. Zunaira has also been invited to many TV shows and has been an esteemed guest on different podcasts and channels, even NGO programs and environment drives.
We got a chance to learn a bit more about this rockstar through her parents. Here’s how the conversation went:
Zunaira Shamim Khan – Pakistan’s Wonder Kid
WOW360: When did you first decide to empower Zunaira through social media?
TZ: On 27TH May 2020 at the age of 5 years Zunaira recorded her first message on Mother’s Day. That message was liked by people and received a very healthy response on FB.
WOW360: How did she start doing voiceovers?
TZ: We noticed that Zunaira had an interest in doing voiceovers for cartons on the internet so we decide that we have to work on it.
https://www.facebook.com/MediaMindsJuniorStars/videos/895276664383675/
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WOW360: How easy or difficult is it for her to engage with others around her?
TZ: From the early days our society didn’t accept her and we as parents stopped all our social activities. Zunaira and our family would just stay home due to people’s behaviour we really dishearted those days. But Alhumdulillah, people have come to love her but the early days were very very difficult for us.
WOW360: Does she have any plans about what she wants to do when she grows up?
TZ: She has many plans, she wants to be a teacher, a pilot, a police officer, a vlogger, a chef and so much more. Right now we want her to focus on her studies but let’s see where her interest lies in the upcoming years, she is mainly leaning towards teaching.
WOW360: Zunaira holds a record that she accomplished at the age of 6 – what is that record?
TZ: At the age of 6, Zunaira became the youngest certified voice-over artist in Pakistan. She made this record in the Pakistan Book of World Records after she completed the course. But, then she shifted more towards vlogging now she posts more videos now. She is not a professional yet because she is very young, but she holds the record and we are very proud.
WOW360: What message would you like to give to other parents who have special children?
TZ: Don’t give up on your children. We spent 3 years on Zunaira’s health, and society pressured us, despite that we gave her the confidence to move forward. If we would have been scared and kept her indoors, we would have never been able to empower her.
Parents first need to build confidence in themselves to face society head-on, Allah has sent his angels to your home so that you can look after them, Don’t give up, these kids will one day get you to respect in the world. No one knew us, but now people know us as Zunaira’s parents, and we feel so proud when people say that these are Zunaira’s parents.
We would also like to give a message to people whose children are healthy and normal, please do not look down upon special children or their parents. Kids are easily scared, don’t point at them, or stare at them, these children and their parents are already going through so much, they don’t need more criticism and more pain in their lives. At least do not hurt them if you cannot help them. We don’t want other parents to go through what we did.
Through our channel TeamZunaira, we are trying to spread awareness about this and Alhumdauillah, she has many fans and people have appreciated our efforts.
More power to you Zunaira! We hope that one day your videos and messages will bring change into this world.
Stay tuned to WOW360.
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