Summary
Prize-winning journalist and the co-author of smash New York Times bestseller I Am Malala, Christina Lamb, now tells the inspiring true story of another remarkable young hero: Nujeen Mustafa, a teenager born with cerebral palsy, whose harrowing journey from war-ravaged Syria to Germany in a wheelchair is a breathtaking tale of fortitude, grit, and hope that lends a face to the greatest humanitarian issue of our time, the Syrian refugee crisis.
For millions around the globe, sixteen-year-old Nujeen Mustafa embodies the best of the human spirit. Confined to a wheelchair because of her cerebral palsy and denied formal schooling in Syria because of her illness, Nujeen taught herself English by watching American soap operas. When her small town became the epicenter of the brutal fight between ISIS militants and US-backed Kurdish troops in 2014, she and her family were forced to flee.
Despite her physical limitations, Nujeen embarked on the arduous trek to safety and a new life. The grueling sixteen-month odyssey by foot, boat, and bus took her across Turkey and the Mediterranean to Greece, through Macedonia to Serbia and Hungary, and finally, to Germany. Yet, in spite of the tremendous physical hardship she endured, Nujeen's extraordinary optimism never wavered. Refusing to give in to despair or see herself as a passive victim, she kept her head high. As she told a BBC reporter, "You should fight to get what you want in this world."
Nujeen's positivity and resolve infuses this unforgettable story of one young woman determined to make a better life for herself. Told by acclaimed British foreign correspondent Christina Lamb, Nujeen is a unique and powerful memoir that gives voice to the Syrian refugee crisis, helping us to understand that the world must change--and offering the inspiration to make that change reality.
Christina Lamb received a degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University. She has been a foreign correspondent for more than 20 years, living in Pakistan, Brazil and South Africa first for the Financial Times then the Sunday Times. She has received numerous awards including Young Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards for her coverage of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1988, the Foreign Press Association award for reporting on Zimbabwean teachers forced into prostitution, the Amnesty International award for the plight of street children in Rio, and the Prix Bayeux Calvados in 2007. She has written several books including The Africa House, House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe, Waiting for Allah, The Sewing Circles of Heart, and Small Wars Permitting: Dispatches from Foreign Lands. Christina Lamb will be at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2015.
(Bowker Author Biography)
