Sana Mustafa

Sana Mustafa is a Canada-based Syrian refugee, author, activist and non-profit founder.[1][2]

Sana Mustafa
Mustafa in 2017
Born
Syria
Alma materDamascus University
Bard College
Known forCo-founding Global Refugee-Led Network
Co-authoring We Are Syrians

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

Mustafa was born in Syria and studied business and marketing at Damascus University.[3][4]

Arrest, escape from Syria

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

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

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
  1. "UN chief urges world to share refugee burden more equitably". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  2. Fitzpatrick, Edward. ""We Are Syrians" Provides First-Hand Accounts of Battle Against Tyranny". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. "Syrian student: 'I knew I could never move forward' without HE". Times Higher Education (THE). 21 April 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  4. "Meeting Syrian Students: A Mixture of Pride and Sadness". Al-Fanar Media. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  5. 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.
  6. "10 Years Into Syria's Conflict, Families of the Missing Continue to Seek Answers". VOA. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  7. Rodewald, James (Spring 2018). "Syrian Students at Bard College Berlin: A Humanistic Imperative". The Bardian Magazine.
  8. Rafiee, Maryam. We Are Syrians (review).
  9. Foster, Rebecca (29 June 2017). "Race, Sexuality, Dispossession, Dead-End Liasons — The Stuff of Life". www.forewordreviews.com. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  10. "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.
  11. "We the Future: Talks from TED, Skoll Foundation and UN Foundation | TED Blog". Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  12. "Sana Mustafa '17 Calls for Better Representation of Refugees at Global Refugee Forum". www.bard.edu. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  13. "Promoting Refugee Participation In The Global Refugee Forum: Walking The Walk". Refugees International. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  14. "Refugee-led organizations need support and funding so they can continue their vital work". Amnesty International. 19 August 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  15. "The State of Global Displacement and Refugee Advocacy: A Conversation with UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi and Friends". Refugees International. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
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