Lamia Hakim… the Tunisian “moon child” who fought bullying and wrote an inspiring success story

With firm determination, a heart full of life, and a will that does not stop until she reaches her goal, the Tunisian young woman, Lamia Hakim, was able to emerge from darkness into the light, and write an unconventional destiny for the “children of the moon”.

She is one of about a thousand people who suffer from “dry pigmented skin” disease in Tunisia, which makes the skin excessively sensitive to the sun’s ultraviolet rays, but she is one of the few who managed to write a success story within the community and become a source of pride in her family environment.
Flemia broke the prevailing rule that moon children cannot succeed in their professional lives, so she became a teacher of the French language, and they could not integrate into society, so she became a member of my municipal council, and they could not proceed with the marriage project, so I had an encouraging and loving family, and they could not complete their studies, so I reached the level of higher education and obtained a certificate. Master of Science, and she is currently completing her PhD thesis in Genetics and Genetics.

War with the sun and against bullying

Lamia Hakim (29 years old) told “Sputnik” that she has been living with this disease since she was a baby, which forced her to live her life in constant battle with the sun. Lamia does not go out to the street unless she is armed with a special dress, protective ointment, sunglasses, and sometimes a rain umbrella to protect her body from ultraviolet rays.

This life, our speaker confirms, is not easy, as she is trying hard to make up for what she is deprived of during the day. Despite the unlimited moral and material support that she received from her family, Lamia suffered from societal rejection and all kinds of bullying.

She adds, “More than 20 years of my life have been spent between feelings of loneliness, rejection and bullying. People’s strange looks at my appearance did not leave me, and their stinging questions did not leave my mind, such as why do you dress like this? Why do you wear a veil with loose clothes? Are you a bee hunter? And you scare our children.” “.

Cruel phrases did not prevent Lamia from moving forward, but made her difference a source of her strength, creating a place for her within society and proving that moon children and others with special needs and different people are able to succeed and integrate with the rest of the people.

The path to a doctorate

After she finished the baccalaureate stage, Lamia was able to obtain a master’s degree in science, and today she is in the process of finalizing her doctoral thesis in genetics and genetics. She adds, “My choice of this major was not haphazard, but rather a deliberate choice fueled by my desire to understand my illness since childhood.”

As it was not easy for the little girl to understand the reason for her difference, she was thinking of studying medicine so that she could find a cure for her disease, which she thought was an allergy in the skin, before she grew up and realized that she was thinking wrong and that she should accept her situation, face her fears and develop her skills. According to this consideration.

The PhD is not the only challenge that Lamia put on her shoulders, as her memory did not forget that scene from her childhood, when she was eight years old, sitting in the last corner of the department listening to the teacher without being able to see the letters written on the board after the French language school refused to close the windows of the hall Study to block out sunlight.

Lamia says:

“The feeling of grievance led me to make the French language a source of challenge, so I invested the times when I was alone at home in developing my skills until I got a diploma in the French language, then I studied English and also learned cooking and drawing, and today I have closed almost five years of teaching French.

Inexhaustible ambition

Lamia Hakim, who has also been a member of the Municipal Council since 2019, says that through this experience she wanted to silence the voice of failure that people predicted to her, and to convey a message that children of the moon can succeed and shine and become active members of society.

Lamia’s ambitions do not stop at this level. In her list of goals, there are many future plans. Life for the moon girl is full of opportunities and challenges, adding that failed experiments should not prevent anyone from moving forward and that one’s weapon lies in determination and determination to achieve the goal.

And she continued:

“In Tunisia, only four of the children of the Moon managed to reach the level of higher education, while most of them dropped out of school at an early age, but this does not mean that they are limited in mental ability, but rather because the majority of them withdraw into darkness and choose solitude over life.”

She pointed out that life is not rosy and that success requires effort and sacrifice, especially for the children of the moon, who must be armed with courage and strength and develop their skills.

Lamia confirms that the feeling of difference did not leave her at any moment in her life, but the secret lies in her acceptance of this difference, saying, “God takes things from you to compensate you with countless and countless others, but you only need to search for those hidden skills and develop them and make them a path to your success.”

Although Tunisia has won more than 14 awards in the field of care for people with “dry pigmented skin” and is also a scientific reference in the research and diagnosis of this disease, the society’s view of the children of the moon is still negative, which made them fight the sun’s rays and people’s tongues together.