Selina was born deaf and mute. She was having chicken pox when she was four-month old in her mother's womb. At the age of four, she was still unable to speak and her family doctor confirmed that she was deaf and mute after a visit to his clinic.
Selina's mother was a hair dresser, she quit her job to take care of her and learned sign language to communicate with her. She accompanied her from her primary school to secondary school to assist her in her education. Selina was not only deaf and mute, she was also a slow learner and she needed to put extra-ordinary effort than her peers in her study. She was not doing well when she was in her primary and secondary school. However that did not stop her from pursuing her dream in graphic design.
She never stopped believing in her greater self as her mom never stopped giving up on her and believing in her. Despite feeling unfortunate from time to time, Selina kept encouraging herself that she must not be defeated by her own weakness. The support given by her parents had also kept her moving on, her dad would fetch her every Friday without fail regardless of rain or shine from her University to her hometown in his motorbike which was approximately a two-hour ride through and fro.
She studied in Lim Kok Wing University, a university with excellent quality in providing high standard education and only accept students who passed the exam with flying colours. Studying in the university was also very costly for her. Based on her result, Selina was quite unlikely to be accepted by the university. However for some reason, she was offered a full scholarship to study a Diploma in Graphic Design and later another scholarship to further her Degree in Graphic Design. She worked extremely hard in producing her art works with excellent quality and many times she was scolded in a harsh manner by her strict foreign lecturer. There were times her art works were thrown outside the classroom by her lecturer. However she never gave up, she picked up her art works and determined to work even harder in producing art works that met the expectation of her lecturer. She never succumbed to her destiny and she was grateful for having such a strict lecturer as she knew it was for her own good.
All her hard work was finally paid off, she was the winner for two highest awards - Excellent Graphic Design Award and the Best Lim Kok Wing Student Award. She graduated in both Diploma and later Degree with flying colours. Her disabilities in speech and hearing did not stop her from achieving her dream but served as driving force to propel herself in a field that she was passionate about.
However, life was not a bed of roses for her. Later she received a bad news that her dad was killed in a road accident. Her world was shattered and she could not accept that her dad was dead. It was a painful experience losing one's loved one, only those with the same experience could understand the agony she had to go through. She did not let this incident defeated her, instead she was resilient and determined to accomplish whatever her dad did not accomplish when he was still alive. She knew her dad would be glad and at ease if she could move on with life and gave her mom her best support.
She is now working in a company that she was having internship before she graduated. Despite there are a lot of obstacles in producing art works which are relevant and meet her boss's expectation, she never fails to challenge herself. She always greets her peers and boss with a bright smile and she is constantly in high spirit. As a result her peers and boss like her very much and always give her the best support whenever she needs it.
She is a phenomenal young lady, isn't she? I am really moved by her story. Are you?