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Home>Service> Awardees of Fervent Global Love of Lives Award> 13th Fervent Global Love of Lives Award 2010> An Angel with Spinal Muscular Atrophy─Chen Ssu-Yu
Speaking Out with Confidence ‧ Pecuniary Aid for the Disadvantaged
      Chen Ssu-Yu was born on February 22 , 1992. On the first day, she went to the kindergarten, she introduced herself to the class naively and lively, “I am three years old. I want to be a gangster boos when I grow up.” During her three-year carefree kindergarten life, she thought she has no difference with others kids, except that wherever she went to, her teacher had always accompanied her, holding her hands. When she graduated from the kindergarten, she decided secretly that she would walk by herself without anyone accompanying her when she went to primary school.
      On the first day Ssu-Yu went to primary school, which should have been a happy day, when she took the first step into the school, she heard another kid pointed to her and said, “Mother, she walks in a strange way!” “Shhh! Be quiet,” “Mother, what happened to her?” With all the these talks surrounding her, Ssu-Yu started to suspect that there was something wrong with herself, and why people kept looking at her. Her mother then led her to the class and told the teacher explicitly, “My daughter has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, she does not walk very well, please take extra care of her.” As a result, not only did she acquainted with a new teacher and new classmates, she also got a new understanding of herself, knowing that she was different from others, that she has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and that she walked in a strange way…. From then on, Ssu-Yu's self introduction became “Hello, everybody. My name is Chen Ssu-Yu, I am shy…”
      When she first went to primary school, Ssu-Yu had to bear her classmates' taunts and rejections. They even nicknamed her behind her back, and laughed at her strange way of walking. However, she did not give herself up; on the contrary, she often got excellent results in after-school contests such as singing, story-telling, and speech-giving. She enjoyed speaking on a stage, and she also returned to her lively character and became more confident. Ssu-Yu lost many chances to participate in school activities due to her disability; she was even urged by the school to quit an English camp, which she had already admitted. Although she was upset by it very much, she successfully transformed her regrets and frustrations into her power. From then on, she cherished every chance to participate in any activities. She has learned to be independent, and knew when should ask for help.
      In high school, Ssu-yu started to join debate contests both insides and outsides school. From her experiences from various contests, she found her interests and established her self-confidence. She trained herself on self-expression in her communications with her teammates in contest preparation. During contests, she practiced on critical thinking about different topics and her problem solving ability. Furthermore, she also started to help others: she became a volunteer in World Vision; she even provides financial support to children in poverty in remote areas regularly. Ssu-Yu now is an active, optimistic, and enthusiastic girl. She often says, “When compared to most of the unfortunate people, I have already a happy life. I can walk slowly, I can read books well, and I can also do many other things…” Even though she knows that in the future, there will be many things that she will want to do but cannot, due to her physical limitation, she has proven with her actions that she will fulfil everything she wants to do, and to seize every moment in the present.