Prologue
Some villagers did not understand English. They received a tape cassette from England. The village head summonsed Yufen Chun to do an extempore translation. They also got a newspaper clipping from England. Yufen Chun also translated it to them.
The news were about a tot who had emigrated to England from their village.
The big news were that Her Majesty the Queen hosted a dinner for her in 1986.
The Path
The contents of the newspaper clipping on 20 May 1986 were reproduced below:
Varsity First for Braille Student
Courage of blind girl reaching for the sky
Brilliant student Yuen Har Tse has sky-high ambitions. Which is quite something for a blind girl.
With nine O-levels - seven of them grade As - and a university place waiting, her dream of becoming an aircraft designer would seem to be within reach.
Yuen Har, 18, whose parents run a Chinese takeaway, has been blind from birth.
But she has already been accepted for an engineering course at Exeter University, assuming her A level results are good this summer.
The new challenge has presented one major problem, however.
To record lecture notes she needs a special embosser providing a braille printout. It costs around 4,500 - money her family can not afford.
She has set up her own appeal, writing to businesses for donations. “I don’t know what else I can do,” she says.
Yuen Har, of Crawley, Sussex, has been attending a special college for the blind. She knows her new challenge will create a massive workload. Every lecture will have to be taped and typed into braille in her spare time.
But she is confident.
“Its nice that I’m the first blind girl to do the course but my aim is just to get the degree.”
“For years I’ve gone to schools geared to my needs. Universities are designed for the sighted and I must learn to adapt.”
Her LinkedIn is here.
She has 2 sons. This is a report in the Guardian entitled “What is it like to live with parents very different from you?”
This is another report in the Slough Express entitled “Blind woman successfully sues Aviva after it failed to send documents in braille”.
Epilogue
There ain’t roots or stalks in one’s life way –
Like dusts on the road we drift around.
Dispersed, we go where the winds are bound;
Our body changes each passing day.
Two men may be born as brothers dear –
They shan’t be the only family.
Enjoy yourselves while you are happy,
Have a care-free drink with your neighour.
Once the prime of our life’s gone, it’s gone –
There are no “two mornings” the same day.
On time we’d better be on our way,
For the Sun and Moon keep moving on.
——— “Miscellaneous Poems” No. 1 (of 12) by Tao Yuanming (365-427) (Jin Dynasty)
——— Translated by Frank Ｃ Yue