Rumana prevails

Two years after her husband ruined her eyes, leaving her blind, Rumana Manzur obtained a second master's degree from the University of British Columbia in Canada.
In what could only be described as a testament to her resolve, she also got into the law school of the prestigious university.
The professors at the University of British Columbia think it was incredible that someone who had lost so much could achieve this much in just two years, Canadian CBC news reported Wednesday.
She got her master's degree on political science. Rumana's first master's degree was on international relations from Dhaka University.
On June 5, 2011, Rumana, an assistant professor of International Relations Department of Dhaka University, was at her home in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, when her husband, Hasan Sayeed Sumon, tried to gouge her eyes out with his fingers in a fit of anger.
Sayeed also bit off the end of her nose. The couple had been fighting allegedly over Rumana's aspiration to study in Canada.

Rumana with her child at a Dhaka hospital after she was assaulted by her husband in June 2011. File photo

Sayeed had been arrested 10 days later but he was found dead in his prison cell at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital on December 5, 2011.
Rumana now needs a cane to walk but she walks the halls of University of British Columbia with confidence. She said she had to relearn how to live and be successful.
Her friends read out loud her text books while others wrote down her words for her master's thesis, which to the thrill of everyone involved she successfully completed, the CBC reported.
Referring to the horrific attack and the days of agony that followed, she said: "… I faced several challenges, but I never thought I could finish my master's degree."
“I didn't let those negative emotions get a hold of my thoughts; I thought this is how I am going to do it. I have to do it now."