Sana Mustafa
Sana Mustafa | |
|---|---|
 Mustafa in 2017 | |
| Born | Syria |
| Alma mater | Damascus University Bard College |
| Known for | Co-founding Global Refugee-Led Network Co-authoring We Are Syrians |
Sana Mustafa is a Canada-based Syrian refugee, author, activist and non-profit founder.[1][2]
Mustafa co-founded the Network for Refugee Voices (which later became the Global Refugee-Led Network) and co-authored We Are Syrians.[1][2]
Early life[edit]
Mustafa was born in Syria and studied business and marketing at Damascus University.[3][4]
Arrest, escape from Syria[edit]
She was arrested in 2011 during Syria Civil War.[5][4]
Mustafa visited USA in the summer of 2013 on a U.S. State Department funded a six-week fellowship that took her to Washington D.C. and Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.[5][4] In July 2013, while she was in USA, her father Ali Mustafa a prominent business person and political activist opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was abducted by the Shabiha.[5][3][4] She has not heard from her father since the abduction.[5][3][4]
While she was still in USA, she applied for and received asylum.[5][6][3] Meanwhile, her mother Lamia Zreik and two sisters fled Syria for Gaziantep, Turkey from where they also applied for asylum to USA.[3][5]
Education, early life in USA[edit]
Mustafa moved into an apartment in Hudson Valley; her plans to join her in USA were thwarted by Donald Trumps' refugee policies.[5] Her older sister Wafa left Turkey for Germany.[5]
In New York City, Mustafa worked in a restaurant, as an Arabic tutor and as a live-in babysitter.[5][3] She won a scholarship to study political science at Bard College and organized the conference From Surviving to Thriving: Syrian Refugees Speak.[3][7]
Her mother and younger sister moved to Canada.[6]
Advocacy and writing[edit]
In 2017, co-authoring with Naila Al Atrash and Radwan Ziadeh, she wrote We Are Syrians.[2][8][9] Her 2019 Ted Talk spoke about the need for inclusion of refugees in policy solutions.[10] Her frustration with the lack of inclusion preceded her co-founding the Network for Refugee Voices[11] and attending the United Nations global refugee summit in 2019.[1][12] Network for Refugee Voices later became the Global Refugee-Led Network.[13]
In 2020, Mustafa worked as the Associate Director of Partnerships and Engagement at Asylum Access in Canada,[14] in 2022, she was the CEO.[15]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c "UN chief urges world to share refugee burden more equitably". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ a b c Fitzpatrick, Edward. ""We Are Syrians" Provides First-Hand Accounts of Battle Against Tyranny".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b c d e f g "Syrian student: 'I knew I could never move forward' without HE". Times Higher Education (THE). 21 April 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "Meeting Syrian Students: A Mixture of Pride and Sadness". Al-Fanar Media. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Sengupta, Somini (6 February 2017). "Mothers and Daughters Divided by Refugee Ban Encounter the Guilt of Good Fortune". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ a b "10 Years Into Syria's Conflict, Families of the Missing Continue to Seek Answers". VOA. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ Rodewald, James (Spring 2018). "Syrian Students at Bard College Berlin: A Humanistic Imperative". The Bardian Magazine.
- ^ Rafiee, Maryam. We Are Syrians (review).
- ^ Foster, Rebecca (29 June 2017). "Race, Sexuality, Dispossession, Dead-End Liasons — The Stuff of Life". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ "Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative selected by sponsors Chris Larsen and Lyna Lam as the $10 million recipient of the Larsen Lam ICONIQ Impact Award". ICONIQ Capital. 4 May 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ "We the Future: Talks from TED, Skoll Foundation and UN Foundation | TED Blog". Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ "Sana Mustafa '17 Calls for Better Representation of Refugees at Global Refugee Forum". www.bard.edu. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ "Promoting Refugee Participation In The Global Refugee Forum: Walking The Walk". Refugees International. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ "Refugee-led organizations need support and funding so they can continue their vital work". Amnesty International. 19 August 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ "The State of Global Displacement and Refugee Advocacy: A Conversation with UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi and Friends". Refugees International. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
