OBSTACLES are supposed to make you stronger. This saying aptly describes 32-year-old Jeshurun Vincent, who was born in Petaling Jaya and raised in Kajang.
When he was 19 years old, he woke up one morning and found that he had completely lost all hearing in his left ear.
“I had become partially deaf,” says Jeshurun.
What is worse, he was training to become a musician. He loved playing the guitar and aspired to be a professional guitarist.
“Most people told me with my condition, I should forget my dream to be a musician,” he said.
“They kept telling me that a musician needs a good pair of ears for hearing, and suggested that I should think of a different career option.”
At the time, music was an important aspect in his life. He sunk deep into depression at the thought that he would have to give up his dream.
“I was not the same guy anymore,” he says.
“I suffered from low self-esteem. I would not speak at all. I would not mingle with a lot of people. When you are going through depression, nobody really understands what you are going through.”
Then, one day, he decided to snap out of his depression and decided that he no longer wanted to live his life under a cloud.
“I realised that I cannot run away from my problems forever,” he says.
“I must learn to deal with them.”
He decided to take a different approach towards his hearing loss.
“I was not going to take what I had as a weakness,” he says.
He returned to playing his guitar, and even took a degree in banking and finance, finding a job at a financial institute at the age of 23.
“My right ear is still working,” he says.
“I used the abilities I still had to pursue my music dream.”
He even started a project where he travels to other countries in order to inspire people with his story and his music.
“I want to tell people, do not give up your dream and live your life to the fullest no matter what your situation is,” he says.
“If I can do it, so can you.”
The first country he visited was Myanmar, and to date, he has travelled to 102 countries. He has gone to the schools, universities and even appeared on television talk shows in these countries to tell his story and play his guitar.
“I remembered a woman in Turkey came up to me and said that she was going to kill herself but after listening to my story, she wanted to continue living. That was very inspirational.”
He says that he has had many beautiful experiences in the countries he visited. But his best experience took place in Iran and Afghanistan.
“The people there treated me like I was one of their family members,” he says.
“Our religious differences are never an issue. Their pure hospitality really touched me. Iranian food is awesome. You should try their kebabs.”
Another country in which he felt himself very much welcomed was Syria.
“People kept telling me I should not visit a war-torn country because it was dangerous,” he says.
“But I did not find any danger there. People were so nice to me there. In fact a few gave me free souvenirs because I was willing to visit their country.”
His travelling has also made him more appreciative of the life he has in Malaysia.
“Here we have running water and electricity, and we take that for granted,” he says.
“Some of the countries I visited do not have these basic facilities.”
Most recently, he had planned to travel from Egypt all the way to continental Africa. But unfortunately, he could not complete his trip.
When he arrived in Egypt, he found out that his mother had passed away in Malaysia and he had to return home to attend her funeral.
With all the restrictions due to the Covid-19 outbreak, he has to put his travelling adventures on hold for the time being.
Speaking about his family, he says his father who used to work for Telekom Malaysia is now a retiree. He has an older brother who is a web administrator, while his younger brother is a song producer.
In 2017, he wrote a book titled Into the Potter’s Hands that tells the story of his life.
“A potter has to break clay to make something beautiful,” he says.
“I believe God broke me to make me a better person. Failures and disappointments are supposed to make you a better person. When I first lost my hearing, I was questioning why God had done that to me. Now I understand that God’s plans are unique.
“With the experiences I have gone through, I have found the strength to step out from my comfort zone. I think everyone should learn to step out from their comfort zone.”
Now he is in the midst of writing his second book which will focus on his travels to 21 countries in South America in 39 days.
“You will be able to read about their culture, their food, and the kind people I met on my travels,” he says.
His new book will be hitting book shelves at the end of the year.
