Nujeen One Girls Incredible Journey from War-Torn Syria in a Wheelchair by Nujeen Mustafa and Christina Lamb

Title: Nujeen One Girls Incredible Journey from War-Torn Syria in a Wheelchair
Author: Nujeen Mustafa and Christina Lamb
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published Date: October 11, 2016
Genre: Non-fiction,
Format: Audiobook
Audio Time:  6 hr 42 min

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads 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.

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 My Review:

Nujeen is one of those people that the world needs more of.
She talks about her life before they became refugees and we really get to see what has helped shaped her into the person she is now. How even though she wasn't able to do what her siblings were, she was still learning.
Did I ever think soap operas would help someone? No, but I am so glad now that they did. No matter how someone learns English or about the world doesn't matter, what does matter is that they do. That everyone has something they're good at and that it is important. Also because of the way she learned things about the world, she was also able to help her family when it came to getting into other countries.
As a fellow wheelchair user, it's always been a question for me of how do you escape when handicap accessible transportation isn't available? The ways that her sister and some of their family members just modified things on the fly and didn't even bat an eye was so nice to see. It was still scary, but the strength that her sister had and the fact that she was also able to stay calm during it all was amazing.

One last thing that I really liked about this book was how Nujeen doesn't just talk about how they escaped, she also brings other people into it as well, and really talks about the crisis that happened and caused them all to have to escape. She's using her voice for so much good and I can't wait to keep learning more about her and seeing what she does in the future!