An Inspirational Woman

​Navy is an incredibly inspirational woman. She has been almost totally blind since birth, only able to see vague shapes and shadows. Her father, who is blind, left her family 20 years ago to live in a pagoda. Her mother passed away when she was a child. She has three sisters -- one who sees very little and has left school, one whose vision is a bit better than Navy's and studies in the province, and one who has normal vision and works to support the family. Navy and her sisters were helped for many years by a Cambodian organization, but that aid ended years ago.
 
Yet despite this adversity, Navy graduated high school and is now a second year Psychology major at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), maintaining a high grade point average. She studies using braille and has a special device that she can use to write braille, which she uses to take both notes and exams (she then reads what she wrote to her professor). Navy’s phone has special software that speaks the text messages and emails she receives, and she also has special software on the laptop computer EFC purchased for her.
 
Navy lives at the RUPP dorm, and when it is time to go to EFC’s Sunday leadership and computer classes, a fellow EFC student meets her and they go together to the class. Navy may have trouble seeing, but she is a great listener, which is an important quality as she plans to become a therapist!