Syrian teen who travelled to Europe in a wheelchair wants to prove Merkel right

Nujeen Mustafa, who now lives in Germany after fleeing Syria, is determined to justify the chancellor's decision to open the country’s doors to refugees.

Nujeen Mustafa poses at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on October 20, 2016. Daniel Roland/AFP

FRANKFURT // After travelling the gruelling 2,000-kilometre migrant trail to Europe in a wheelchair, Nujeen Mustafa is clearly not one to shy away from a challenge.

Along the way the Syrian teenager even helped other refugees by translating for them using English she learned from an American soap opera.

Now safe in Germany, the 17-year-old has set herself a new goal: to justify chancellor Angela Merkel decision to open the country’s doors to refugees.

“We will do our best to prove to everyone that Germany was right from the beginning,” she says from her new home just outside Cologne.

Even Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai hails her as an inspiration.

“She says I’m her hero, which feels a little weird to me because she has shown that girls can change the world,” Nujeen says.

The young Syrian, who has cerebral palsy, has chronicled her arduous trek from war-ravaged Aleppo across Europe in a book co-written with British journalist Christina Lamb.

Nujeen describes her memoir, which she presented at the Frankfurt book fair on Thursday, as an attempt to put a human face on the wave of refugees that has swept across Europe.

“People think of the Syrian crisis as something that is happening really far away and they should not, or do not, care. I know that people just turn into numbers,” she says.

“I hope that it will have an effect on even one person, change even just one idea about refugees.”

The book, Nujeen, starts with the early days of the Syrian war and the escalating violence that makes it too dangerous for the family to stay.

“Forgive me Syria,” Nujeen whispers as she crosses the border into Turkey.

Too old to travel, her parents stay in Turkey while Nujeen and her sisters set off to join two brothers who live in Germany.

Nujeen recounts in detail the terrifying boat trip to Greece, with her uncle steering the dinghy based on what he learned from YouTube videos while Nujeen worries that the other passengers will want to throw her wheelchair overboard.

Once ashore, they have to navigate cheating smugglers, crowded camps and closed borders before finally arriving at their destination.

But there are also moments of levity and solidarity, like when fellow migrants help lift Nujeen’s wheelchair over obstacles and volunteers offer them lifts.

Nujeen, who barely left her fifth-floor apartment while living in Aleppo, sees much of the month-long journey as an adventure, and feels useful "for the first time" as the English she picked up from watching Days of Our Lives suddenly proves invaluable.

She even becomes something of a celebrity when she is interviewed along the way, telling bemused reporters her dream is to be an astronaut.

Since arriving in Germany in September last year, life has been good. Nujeen is going to school for the first time, she has made friends and has taken up wheelchair basketball.

But the mood towards migrants has changed since her arrival, and Ms Merkel has found herself under pressure over her open-door policy as concerns grow about how to integrate around 900,000 newcomers who arrived last year.

Nujeen says the hardening tone has not changed her high opinion of Germans, whom she praises as very hard-working and punctual, and she pleads for understanding on both sides.

“I can understand why some people would be intimidated though it hurts me that people would be afraid of our country or our region. [Refugees] should understand their position and respect German culture and lifestyle. We are guests and we should give a good impression.”

She said she was proud of the three Syrians who recently made headlines in Germany after they overpowered a Syrian fugitive suspected of planning a bomb attack.

“I sometimes think that our society must be full of people that are frustrated and full of hatred but that’s not true. We can still recognise right from wrong.”

If she could send a message to Ms Merkel, it would be this: “We will show the whole world that the ultimate outcome of this policy will be good and then you can be totally proud and say ‘See, I was right’.”

Nujeen is still waiting for to receive formal approval for asylum.

“You have to be patient. That’s Germany, you have to follow the rules exactly and I understand that,” she says, though she is desperate to get a passport so she can visit her parents, whom she Skypes daily.

In the meantime she is determined to make the most of her new life in the flat she shares with her two sisters and her sister’s children.

“I get out a lot more now, I visited six museums over the summer holiday,” she beams, excitedly switching from English into fluent German. Her next wish is to visit the fantastical castle of Neuschwanstein in Bavaria.

She says she still wants to be an astronaut but if life has taught her anything, it is that you need a back-up plan.

“That’s still Plan A, but I have a Plan B now. I will do everything to achieve my dream but if that doesn’t work then I will just keep writing and become a real author,” she says.

“I have a big imagination.”

* Agence France-Presse