- My name is Sana Mustafa.
I’m a Syrian refugee in the U.S.
- Oh my god, come in.
This is my….home.
Temporary home.
Where would you like to start first?
This is all of us a long time ago.
I was born in Syria.
And family for us very, you know.
A very important thing in our life.
Growing up with my older sister was amazing. We are friends you know.
Everyone used to think that were twins.
She was more of a good girl.
My younger sister, Ghena. She was close to my dad.
Everywhere he would go she would be with him
I always wanted to be out with my friends. Going dancing. And meet guys.
All the stuff.
Even my friends made a lot of comments growing up.
That I can’t believe how your dad let you do this.
My parents were open and liberal.
My background come from muslim family.
But this way of raising kids was not based on fear of god or anything.
And I should say my parent emphasized education a lot. It was number one.
Also, the news was always on the TV.
I grew up knowing that we don't live in a free country
I grew up knowing we have discrimination against many sects.
I grew up knowing we did not have freedom of speech.
And I grew up knowing my dad was against the government.
My older sister was one of the first to be in the streets.
Seeing her, seeing my dad, and other friends definitely believing in the cause,
there was no question whether I support this or not.
When my dad was detained, my sister and I got detained.
When you get released after detention, you definitely get more motivated.
On July 2nd 2013, that was the day my life changed.
I was in the US, I was in a class actually.
I received a facebook message from my sister.
I collapsed basically.
It was very sad that I was here, I was not there.
And I felt guilty for being here and not there.
All these feelings: guilty and sad and upset and mad and I want to scream.
And I’m here and life is normal. Like no one knows what’s going on over there.
It was a challenge to stay here.
I was granted political asylum.
But that doesn’t happen very quickly and easily and smoothly.
Especially having to stay here without any resources, in a new
country, knowing no one, having no family.
And still you have to deal what what’s going on in your country and
with your dad and family and everything and then having to survive.
- In the fall of 2013, I started to work within the college to
see if we could bring in any Syrian students.
At the same time, I was able to work informally with
some contacts I had at the US State Department.
And say, basically, “We’ve got a slot for one student.
Do you know anyone who is really a star?”
And they sent us the name, Sana.
- So tomorrow, we’re having a panel to talk about the asylum process with refugees.
And how to build political advocacy in the US.
- Sana is an exiled Syrian activist, who has fled the war in Syria two years ago
and started her life from scratch in the United States.
- There are individual names and stories behind all of those headlines.
- And they made it to Turkey, my mother and two sisters, with nothing.
And when I say with nothing I mean literally with nothing.
And there life is on hold. My life is actually going because I am here.
My family is trying to come through the U.N.H.C.R.
They have been waiting for asylum decisions for over two years now.
My sister who is 16 years old has not gone to school in two years and a half.
And my other sister, she was the only person who can provide for the family.
So she has to work.
It’s not politics. It’s people’s lives. And this might be your life one day.
I never imagined this would be my life one day when I was your age.
I’m very disappointed because I have seen the support here.
And people start making the comments about us being terrorists?
We are fleeing that terror.
I contribute to the community as much as I take.
And every Syrian as well.
Just give us a chance.
Many things are going to change in our culture and society.
And the structure of our society and our traditions.
I always wonder, ten years from now, how are we going to keep our culture with us?
I think about it a lot.
When you lose people, I don’t know how much that you care about such stuff.
But still, it’s our history. Civilizations.
And war destroys everything.
I mean, this is the hardest question: what is home?
I think home is where my family is.
If my family is not there, and my friends are not there, what does the place mean anymore?