She's a little genius, which is why she was saved from the earthquake that destroyed her home.
Selena Salman is 12 years old and in her first year at the Latakia talent school.
For this reason, on the night of February 6, she was not at her home with her mother in Astoma, in the rural area of Lakatia.
"My mum had moved there a few months ago - she says - but I wanted to continue school in the city so I stayed to live with my aunt. Transport is not good so I preferred to stay here to attend lessons".
The two fatal shocks that night compromised the telephone lines, the news of the collapse of the five-story building where they lived, on the main street of the town, arrived only after many hours.
"The shock was too strong - says Eba Ibrahim Haifa, the aunt who now has the young girl in foster care -. We weren't able to go immediately to see what had happened, but some relatives left immediately. They told us that people were digging with the hands, there was no emergency means, the cranes to move the rubble arrived very late. My sister was the last to be extracted after two days of searches".
A pain too great, "but luckily - says Selena, who dreams of becoming a doctor when she grows up - I am strong and I managed to overcome it".
Now she lives with her aunt and cousins in Latakia, where she will continue to attend school.
Thanks to her talent in science subjects she was chosen for the Mathematics Olympiad, a great pride for her family.
"The first moments weren't easy - aunt Eba confides - I loved my sister and welcoming Selena into the house is like having my sister always present. We too lost our parents when we were young, and she was a mom and dad for us to grow up ".
And in the complicated phases, immediately after the earthquake, also the return to Astoma's house.
"In the following days we went to the place - says the woman -. We had to look for important documents that my sister had kept right in the new home. We dug with our hands through what remained of the house, and I think this was the most painful. While I was doing it I felt like I was reliving her last moments, I wondered what it must have felt, if she realized what was happening. It was difficult."