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Tchuendem, 24, emerged second out of 35 candidates admitted into Masters 1 of IRIC.

The Ministry of Higher Education, Sunday, February 16, honoured the visually impaired student during an official ceremony presided by the Minister, Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo.

During the occasion, Fame Ndongo stated that even as a woman, she had demonstrated that at the banquet of intelligence, there is no second or weak sex. He said she was an edifying example of perseverance in the 'struggle for life'. The Minister offered her an encouragement sum of FCFA 1 million.

Miss Christelle Tchuendem was not born blind, The Post learnt. She gradually developed signs of blindness at the age of six, and at 12 she was completely blind. "From then it was not easy," she said, stirring up emotions in the crowd that could not but shed tears.

"I started attending the Blind School of Promhandicam where I began to learn the brail. The tablets became my new companions and replaced my pen and my books, up to this moment," she narrated.

As a student at the Catholic University of Central Africa, and the IRIC, she said her transportation fare per month was estimated at FCFA 120,000. But due to her brilliant performance, she earned the Valentin Haüy scholarship worth 3000 Euros per year for the best two visually impaired students for Francophone Africa.She said this enabled her to pay her way through for five years.

According to her, she received a laptop gift from the French Embassy which came to lighten her burden. One of her difficulties, The Post learnt, has been access to documentation, given that books have to be translated written on CDs for her. She said she had to order special aid books from other countries, which were expensive and difficult to come.

As one of the first handicapped people to be admitted in the domain of diplomacy, she said she sees this as a challenge to double efforts to prove that a handicapped is capable of anything. While appreciating government for authorising her to write the competitive exams, she pleaded that more opportunities be given the disabled. Meanwhile, she urged the handicapped not to relent in their efforts in any endeavour.