17-year-old pilot raising funds for education through world voyage

KARACHI: As the overcast skies over Karachi cleared somewhat, a tiny particle in the air started getting bigger and bigger. Soon it took the shape of a small single-engine plane that landed here at Karachi airport on Tuesday afternoon.

The pilot of the plane was no ordinary person. Seventeen-year-old American-born Pakistani Haris Suleman is on a tour of the world, that, too, in 30 days. He is flying with his father, Babar Suleman. After starting their journey from Plainfield, Indiana, the US, on June 19, the duo visited Canada, Iceland, England, Greece, Egypt and the UAE before reaching Pakistan.

“Only one-third of the journey is covered,” said Haris as they still have on their list Bangladesh, Indonesia, Australia, Fiji, American Samoa, Kiribati, Hawaii and California, which they intend to cover by July 20.

The Sulemans, who migrated to the US in the 1980s, have undertaken the challenge in a bid to raise money to help educate Pakistan’s poor children.

They are supporting The Citizen’s Foundation (TCF) which is celebrating opening its 1,000th school in Pakistan.

- Read More