Master motivator drums up inspiration

The children at Yew Chung International School remember Nick Vujicic not just for his inspirational message but also for his "chicken drumstick".
That is the name he gives his tiny foot with two toes that is his only functional limb and with which he has learned, among other things, to type more than 40 words a minute and play a drum machine.

The Australian motivational speaker, who was born without arms or legs, demonstrated his skills on his second visit to the school yesterday as he delivered his message that "there is hope until you give up".

He also showed video footage of himself swimming and playing golf and soccer, hoping, he says, to inspire his audience into thinking: "If there is destiny for a man without limbs, where is mine?"

Over the years, he has turned his struggle with a rare condition, tetra-amelia syndrome, into a message of hope and optimism with which he has travelled to 25 countries.

He also told how he had suffered so much from teasing at school that he contemplated suicide.

"The school isn't going to change until you become the change," he told the school assembly.

Vujicic will start a tour of the mainland today, visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Sichuan . Through the "power of unity", he hopes to work with the government to bring a brighter future for the people, especially survivors of last year's Sichuan earthquake. Vujicic will return to Hong Kong to hold a seminar, "Attitude is Attitude", at 8pm on November 4 at the International Trade and Exhibition Centre's Star Hall. Tickets costing HK$150 are available from PMA Music Foundation's website, www.pmf.org.hk.

SCMP. Oct 31, 2009.