B.C. student blinded in Bangladesh attack continues physical, emotional recovery

VANCOUVER – A University of British Columbia student who was blinded in a vicious domestic assault during a trip home to Bangladesh has made a remarkable recovery, finishing her master’s degree and preparing to enter law school this fall.

Rumana Monzur was attacked during a trip home in May 2011 and her story made headlines in Canada and abroad,fuelling a debate about violence against women in the South Asia country where she is from.

Two years later, Monzur has learned to read braille and to use adaptive technology, which allowed her to complete and successfully defend a thesis about climate change in Bangladesh.

She has decided to change disciplines, enrolling in the University of British Columbia’s law school, which she says will allow her to help women like her who are targeted by domestic violence, especially those who must navigate the Bangladeshi legal system.

Monzur, who lives on the university’s campus with her parents and her six-year-old daughter, says she never would have thought she would have been able to recover and finish her studies in just two years, but she credits her friends, the university community and her strong Muslim faith.

She says she rarely thinks about the attack that left her blind, and prefers to think of herself as a survivor rather than a victim of domestic violence.