Be anything in life

 

 
A homeless scavenger in Brazil got a place at a top university - after studying books she found among the rubbish.

Ercilia Stanciany, 41, survived by rummaging through bins and rubbish tips in the city of Vitoria, southeast Brazil.

She had left school aged just 10 after her father banned her from attending lessons, and for the next 20 years eked out a measly living on the streets.
Then in 2010 Ercilia, now a mother-of-two, was collecting rubbish when she came across a leaflet advertising a course for adults wanting to complete their school education.
She signed up, and using books she had also found in bins and tips, managed to pass with flying colours.


 

Last year she continued her studies by completing a university entry-level course, again using materials she had come across in the rubbish.
And this week she found out she had been accepted to study Arts at the Federal University of Espirito Santo, one of Brazil's most prestigious educational establishments.

Ercilia told Brazil's Globo G1 website: 'I cried when I got the news. When I went to sign on at university I couldn't stop shaking.

'My father used to say he would never let me go to school, that my place wasn't at school and that I'd never be anything in life. If only he could see me now.'