Vice-Chancellor

Good morning everyone. It is my honour and pleasure to introduce Dr Sarah Fane to you.

Medicine offers the most amazing career opportunities, from looking after new-born babies to improving the health of populations through health promotion and disease prevention. However, as you plan your next career steps, how many of you are thinking of leading a major charity based on cricket?

Whilst on a pre-university gap year in India Sarah was inspired to change her course at Bristol from French and Latin to Medicine, which she started in 1983. Her elective was spent in the North West Frontier province of Pakistan, near the Afghan border. As well as working with an obstetrician in the area, she helped treat many Afghan refugees, returning after she qualified to continue this work. During this time, she sometimes disguised herself as a man for her own safety.

Sarah spent the next 12 years raising her four children and working, intermittently, part-time as a doctor. She was invited to return to Afghanistan in 2001 to work in a mother and child clinic in the Panjshir Valley. Shocked by the situation she found there, she started raising money to pay for vaccines and medical supplies and ultimately set up the charity Afghan Connection in 2002.

Afghan Connection initially worked to raise money for medical aid and to establish cultural and educational connections between schools in Afghanistan and the UK. Over time the focus shifted to education projects in north-eastern Afghanistan, supporting the building or renovation of schools and teacher training, with a focus on providing more female teachers. This helped to ensure girls could stay in the education system as they became teenagers.

But where does the cricket come in? In 2008 the Afghan National Cricket Team was at the bottom of its league. Inspired by her son, who noticed this, Sarah took some cricket kit out to support local players, and the rest, as they say, is history. Afghan Connection provided 110 pitches in 22 provinces, trained coaches and provided kit – bringing benefits to over 150,000 children, with some of the players going on to play for the increasingly successful Afghan National Team. Afghan Connection began to work with the Marylebone Cricket Club, or MCC, to continue this provision of sporting opportunities tied to improvements in education and health. In 2012, Sarah was made an Honorary Life Member of the MCC. In 2013 she received an OBE for services to charity, particularly to young people in Afghanistan. Over time the work of Afghan Connection supported more than 500,000 children. 

In 2020, Sarah became Director of the MCC Foundation, a charity which transforms lives through cricket nationally and globally. How do they do that? Well, in the UK the Foundation supports 74 ‘cricket hubs’ offering totally free cricket coaching and matches for 3,000 promising young players from disadvantaged backgrounds. They put mental health and well-being at the heart of the programme and work very hard to support girls in cricket and give them the same opportunities as boys.

Continuing her work with refugees and those affected by war, Sarah has recently visited Lebanon, where the Foundation is working in camps for people from Syria. She reflected in a recent post: ‘Cricket is the only structure for these (refugee) children, and it is a lifeline. They never miss a session, they fashion bats from any wood they can find, they dream of playing for Lebanon… or perhaps even their beloved Syria one day. Their coaches are their role models, their teammates are their firm friends in this harsh new world.’

Very close to Sarah’s heart is a programme she set up last year, offering weekly cricket sessions to Afghan refugees currently housed in hotels near the MCC home at Lord’s. This chance to connect, have a hot meal of familiar food, develop language skills and feel the beginning of a sense of belonging is a vital connection for those displaced by the recent events in Afghanistan.  

Sarah has been inspired and supported throughout by her family, some of whom are here today. She remains connected to Bristol: her daughter Antonia has also graduated today in Liberal Arts and French so a double cause for celebration! 

I asked Sarah if she still considers herself to be a doctor. Her initial response was ‘no’ but as we talked, she reflected on how she uses her communication skills, problem solving and medical knowledge in her working life. She is an inspiration to all of us.

Despite dangers to her own safety, she has worked in war zones and in remote areas with communities which receive little or no assistance from other organisations. She has worked to advance the education and health of young people, particularly girls, and has brought joy and hope to hundreds of thousands of lives.

Vice-Chancellor, I present to you Sarah Katherine Fane as eminently worthy of the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa.