LONDON – Nujeen Mustafa, a disabled teenager from Kobani who trekked to Germany in her wheelchair, not only captured hearts around the world, she even brought a dead man back to life – albeit on TV.
When her determination and courage were caught on US and British news broadcasts, the 16-year-old had commented that, back home, she had learned English from her favorite American soap opera, “Days of Our Lives.”
“That’s a great show," she told the American ABC network on the Serbian-Hungarian border. "But they killed the main character that I loved!”.
John Oliver, host of the popular “Last Week Tonight” show on the American HBO television network, was so moved by Mustafa’s story that he arranged for the dead soap opera character to be brought back to life – just for the brave teenager.
"Nujeen has been through enough. And any country would be happy to have her.” Oliver told the audience. “One final thing we thought we can do… and it is for one refugee. For Nujeen, who was saddened by the death of EJ from ‘Days of our Lives.’ We made some calls and it is a surprise that is literally just for you,” he said, addressing Mustafa.
A special scene then shows EJ knocking the door of his beloved. She opens the door, awestruck at the man on her doorstep, whom she thought had died.
"Coming back from the dead, that's not hard," EJ says in the scene. "You know what's hard? Getting from Syria to Germany."
“This is my lucky day” Mustafa says in a YouTube video after watching the scene filmed just for her.
James Scott, who plays EJ, tweeted after seeing her video posting: “This opened my heart #Nujeen Thank you!!”
Determined and optimistic, Mustafa had already been on the road for 20 days when the news cameras caught up with her on the Hungarian border, where she was among the many refugees trying to get to Germany.
Disabled since birth, Mustafa hopes that advanced healthcare in Germany, where she has applied for asylum, could help her walk for the first time.
She told the BBC that she enjoyed the long journey: “I have tried many things for the first time: train and sheep.”
Pictures by the documentary photographer Ivor Prickett show her getting off a boat on the Greek Island of Lesbos.
Mustafa and her older sister, Nisreen, trekked thousands of miles through Greece, Macedonia, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia before reaching Germany, where she was united with her brother, Bland, who had sought asylum there earlier.
“We should fight to get what we want in this world,” she said as she tried to cross the Hungarian border to Croatia. “It is a dream for a new life.”
From Croatia she entered Slovenia, where she was arrested and detained, and released only after pressure from human rights activists.
Her reason for leaving her home country for a treacherous journey to Europe?: “Imagine you are 16, and always you are afraid to be dead at any minute. You are also afraid to lose your loved ones.”
And she said she missed her parents, who she left behind: “I can sleep without my mom,” she said. “But I miss her.”
After reaching Germany, she has other dreams: becoming an astronaut “to see and find the aliens.” She also wants to meet Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.
From the small room she shares with her sister in Germany, she had this advice for victims of war around the world.
“In my lucky day, I have something to say,” she says in an online video: You are stronger and braver than you think. Fight for what you want, and I am sure you will get it.”
