Photograph of Munawar Sabir revisiting his childhood home in Nairobi, Kenya.

Munawar Sabir was born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1935 to Sardaran Khanum and Ghulam Sabir. Ghulam Sabir worked as a clerk with the British railway in Nairobi, and with his university education was able to move up into management, human resources, and finally, an accounting position. He was soon promoted to bursar and would travel by train, provided with his own bogie and guards to protect the coffers, visiting each station and paying the labourers lined up on payday. He went back to India around 1930 to marry Sardaran Khanum. Ghulam and Sardaran had four children, all born in Nairobi: Hamida (1931), Anwar (1932), Munawar (1935), and Sureya (1939).

Ghullam Sabir could only afford to send one of his sons to university in England but could afford to send both sons to university in Pakistan. Hence, upon graduating Grade 12, Munawar was uprooted to Saiwal, Pakistan in April 1953. After living with his grandfather for a few weeks, he travelled to King Edward Medical College and roomed with his cousin. There he would study first-year courses independently before registering in September for second-year studies at Government College in Lahore, skipping first-year university altogether. During his third year, he transferred to Forman Christian College receiving his first degree, majoring in zoology, chemistry, and English, followed by a five-year medical program at Nishtar Medical College in Multan. 

Immediately upon graduating from medical school, he left for England on December 3, 1961. In England, he remained in a Pakistani hostel for six weeks while applying for residency positions and was invited to six interviews. However, he only attended the three interviews that were along a train route: in Scunthorpe (gynecology and obstetrics), South Shields (gynecology and obstetrics), and Carlisle (general surgery). The pay was similar for each of these positions (20 pounds per month), and he eventually settled in South Shields, as the resident quarters seemed most appealing to him. The position was for six months, and he received one night off per week, along with every third weekend. He remained in South Shields for another year after receiving a job as junior house surgeon in general surgery, and then senior house surgeon. He next moved to Lewisham and took a job as registrar at St. John’s Hospital, after which he became the resident surgical officer at the same hospital.

In 1963, when Kenya received independence from Britain, Munawar was forced to give up his Kenyan citizenship, as he was then living and working in England. During the same year, he met and married his first wife, Pat. Pat and Munawar moved to Hereford in Muchbirch, where he took an assistantship, eventually moving to Wolverhampton to become an orthopaedic registrar. At this point, tiring of the training jobs and feeling well experienced, he began working in family practice in Edmonton, London, where he remained for six years while also working as a clinical assistant in orthopedic surgery at Barnett General Hospital. During this time, they purchased their first home, in Enfield.

On a visit to Toronto, Ontario in 1972, Munawar fell in love with Canada, and he and Pat decided to relocate with their children. He applied for immigration and a family practice position, and an opportunity to purchase a practice in the Ukrainian town of Hafford, Saskatchewan presented itself. The family arrived on November 23, 1973, ready to begin their new adventure, but tragedy struck on November 29. After attending a farewell dinner for the departing doctor, the family was driving back to their hotel in a blizzard when they were struck by an oncoming vehicle. Munawar’s life changed forever — in a split second, his wife and children were gone.

Munawar continued to work in Hafford, and in 1975, he met Eva, a young nurse of Ukrainian, French, Irish, and German ancestry. A skydiving accident in Prince George, British Columbia had caused her to be in a full leg cast for many weeks and forced her to move back home to heal. However, never one to sit still, she approached the matron at the Hafford hospital, looking for nursing work. There, they serendipitously met and then eventually married. In 1978, they moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba when he accepted a residency position to specialize in orthopedics and began working at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre, St. Boniface Hospital, as well as the Children’s Hospital, while Eva worked at the Misericordia Health Centre. They had four daughters: Shamma, Sarah, Roxanna, and Laila. 

When Munawar completed his residency in orthopedics in Winnipeg and flew to Vancouver for his graduation, he became immediately excited that B.C. was not snow covered, remaining green even in the dead of winter. Having grown up by the equator, he was not fond of the cold Saskatchewan and Manitoba winters, so they decided to move to B.C. In 1982, Munawar and family arrived in Abbotsford, where they have remained since. At the time, Munwar and Eva were only one of two biracial couples in the Fraser Valley, something that drew many a curious glance and whispers. Munawar’s practice grew immediately, as he spoke numerous languages and drew Punjabi- and Urdu-speaking patients from over a hundred miles away. In 1988, Munawar and Eva fell in love with an acreage with rolling hills that reminded Munawar of his home in Kenya; they christened it Ngong Hills, after the peaks in a ridge along the Rift Valley, southwest of Nairobi. 

- Sarah Beaulieu