Nujeen Mustafa

Mustafa was raised in Kobane, Syria, with her sisters and brother as part of a Kurdish family. Her father, who is unable to read, sold sheep and goats while her brother dug water wells. She was born with cerebral palsy and spent the majority of her life "confined to her family's fifth-floor apartment in Aleppo." According to reporting by National Geographic, their building had no elevator, and so leaving the apartment could only be accomplished by having someone carry her to the ground floor. she lived in Wesseling and attended a school for those with disabilities. == Activism and recognition ==

Mustafa gained attention during her journey to Europe as a so-called "refugee celebrity", as she was interviewed by journalists while en route. In 2019 she became the first person with a disability to brief the United Nations Security Council on her experiences during the war in Syria and policy regarding disabled persons. She has also given talks at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, TEDx in Iraq and the United Kingdom, and the presentation of the Nansen Refugee Award in 2017. She accepted the award at a ceremony in Australia in April of the same year. Last Week Tonight In 2015, Mustafa was featured on a segment of the television show Last Week Tonight hosted by John Oliver, covering the treatment of refugees, and which included segments from interviews she had given to the BBC. The segment also featured a one-off scene between Days of Our Lives characters EJ DiMera and Sami Brady. These had been reported as Mustafa's favorite characters in the show, and the former had been killed off in a previous episode. The character EJ addressed Mustafa, recognizing the difficulty of her journey as a refugee and calling her "our kind of people". ==Publications==

Mustafa has published two books, both co-authored with British journalist and writer Christina Lamb: • • ==See also==