Abdullah Kattineh's family were so poor he could not afford textbooks
As the civil war raged around him, Abdullah Kattineh, a Syrian teenager, was teaching himself Chemistry using his mobile phone. In any case, there was no other way for him as his family could not afford to buy Chemistry textbooks.
Rather than give up due to the inconvenience, Kattineh continued to use a torch to study on his tiny phone screen.
Now, his efforts have paid off after Corpus Christi College gave him a full scholarship. This covers fees and living costs of more than £48,000. He will read natural sciences.
Hear the teenager :
'It is the ultimate honour to be the only Syrian student who got admitted to Cambridge University this year.
'I can't by any language - or type of creative writing - express what this chance means to me.
'I can't dismiss from my mind how difficult it was to study without electricity 18 hours a day, or how difficult it was to study all the books from a 4.5-inch mobile phone screen because we couldn't afford to buy the original books or a device with a bigger screen.
'Most of us - the Syrian people - were paralysed by the outcomes of the Syrian crisis.
'From an extreme devaluation of the Syrian currency accompanied by the difficulty to afford the costs of living to the possibility of losing your best friend or family member at any moment.
'To me, I've always been a dreamer, and those circumstances made me even more determined to achieve my dreams.'
'I can't dismiss from my mind how difficult it was to study without electricity 18 hours a day, or how difficult it was to study all the books from a 4.5-inch mobile phone screen because we couldn't afford to buy the original books or a device with a bigger screen.
'Most of us - the Syrian people - were paralysed by the outcomes of the Syrian crisis.
'From an extreme devaluation of the Syrian currency accompanied by the difficulty to afford the costs of living to the possibility of losing your best friend or family member at any moment.
'To me, I've always been a dreamer, and those circumstances made me even more determined to achieve my dreams.'
The Syrian teenager had set up a fundraising website asking for help.
On the site, Mr Kattineh wrote:
'Unfortunately, my family can't afford the university, college, and living costs to study at Cambridge.
'The problem in Syria, beside the horrible economic situation, is that we don't have visa cards or online bank accounts due to economic restrictions.
'As a result, I can't receive help from anyone of my family or friends who are residents in Syria.'
