Fathimath Shamha Ali has won Wonder Women Award

I, Fathimath Shamha Ali from Maldives am a 26-year-old female, am an awardee of “Women Icon powered by Times Women”, receiving the “Wonder Woman Award”.  I have always loved working to my full potential, and am eager to try out different things, hence giving my best to make the life full of positive outcomes. I thus love my career and work as a registered nurse and a tutor.

I was raised by mother, who ensured that I get the best education and love that is needed. I have 2 siblings, who was always there to support me. My education journey started at the age of 3, from baby Nursery. I loved studying and was a prefect through the grades 6 to 12. I finished my secondary and primary at Jamaluddin school, and was a school captain in my grade 10 year. My best subjects was Mathematics, Dhivehi and Islam. My higher secondary education was completed at Center for Higher Secondary education.

I have also completed C3 in IT, and bachelor in nursing. Everything was not easy, but my family was always there to support me to achieve my dream. Being the eldest in the family, I had always wanted to provide support for my family. I got married in the year 2020, and since then, my husband have also been an addition to my support circle. It is this support circle, that had me going forward, and pursuing my dreams.

One of my goals have always been to help others. As per this goal, and to aid my family, I have started tutoring at home, at the age of 16 years, in 2015, which was a great idea given by my mother. Currently, I am counting my 10^th year of tutoring, while now I am also working as a registered nurse in Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) – Dharumavantha Hospital.

I finished my O’ levels in the year 2014 and have started my tutoring career since 2015 January, right after my O’ levels, in order to support my mother and siblings. Tutoring is not a job that I have dreamt of, but is something that I have started loving, after seeing how much a positive effect I am bringing on the grades of the students. It was a great moment to see the fascinating improvement in the grades, and to hear the lovely feedbacks from the parents and the students.

I have always loved helping others, and have a great interest in medical field, since childhood. Though I have always wanted to do Medicine, to become a doctor and to help the patients to be in good health, due to financial struggles that we faced and the situation we were in, I was unable to study medicine after trying from 2015-2019.

After thinking of the next plan, Nursing was the next closest career to that of a doctor, where I can be close to the patients in order to give them the necessary comfort and care they need, thus helping them with my full potential to have a good health. Hence, I started my diploma in nursing course in February 2020. I completed my Diploma in nursing in the year 2022. Soon after, I started my bachelor’s degree in nursing in Feb 2023. I have then started my career as a registered nurse in IGMH in June 2023. I then completed my bachelor’s in Nov 2023, and got graduated.  

My first work area as a nurse was IGMH ER, where I worked since June 2023 to May 2024. Since May 2024 till now, I am working in IGMH Endoscopy suite, located in Dharumavantha Hospital.

As of now, I am doing my duties as a nurse, as well as passing my knowledge to the younger generation by tutoring. Each day, from Saturday to Thursday, I start my tutoring classes after finishing my nursing shift. I plan to continue to serve the patients as a nurse, as well as to give my guidance, support and knowledge to the students by tutoring.

Double jobs can be hard, but I love to give my best and am eager to always help those around me, whether its medical or knowledge wise. Of course, with hardship comes great success, hence I do not want the hardships to stop me. It is a delight to see the patient’s as well as my tutoring kids smile within the time they spent with me, and this always make my day.

Besides my work area, I love doing various different activities. I love reading and writing stories, mostly from my language Dhivehi. I also love playing handball, badminton and carrom, and am an International carrom Umpire. One of my dreams is to one day be a player in the carrom national team, representing my country. My biggest achievement in carrom includes first place in women’s double in the interoffice carrom tournament 2024. During interschool competitions, my team have also got first place team in some of the team events.

I am honored to be achieving the recognition of “Women Icon powered by Times Women” and am extremely happy. I would like to thank “Women Icon powered by Times Women” for this opportunity. This has inspired me to do more, and to keep on striving. My best support throughout was my mother, siblings, and husband, as well as my extended family.

It’s always been one of my best goals to ensure that my mom is proud of me, as she have been the one that’s always been with me, raising me by herself to be the women I am today. Today, I am glad to see that I have made her proud of who I am, and for the award I am achieving, for she is the reason behind my success. I will keep on moving forward to serve my community.

Thank You.