'I will not let this suffering be normal': how Kayla Mueller came to Syria's aid

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/07/isis-hostage-kayla-mueller-syria-aid

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Kayla Mueller is, by all accounts, a woman drawn to help those in the greatest need.

By her mid-20s she was working in the Syrian war zone. Some days, she made art with children whose schools had been destroyed. Others, she searched for members of Syrian families who had become separated during bombings.

“Syrians are dying by the thousands, and they’re fighting just to talk about the rights we have,” Mueller said at a meeting of the Kiwanis Club in Prescott, Arizona, where her father was a member, according to her hometown paper the Daily Courier.

Related: Isis supporters claim US hostage killed in Jordanian air strike in Syria

“For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal. [I will not let this be] something we just accept,” the paper reported her as saying. “It’s important to stop and realize what we have, why we have it and how privileged we are. And from that place, start caring and get a lot done.”

After years of charitable work at home and aid work overseas, the graduate of Tri City College Prep in Prescott and Northern Arizona University was drawn to the Turkey-Syria border to work with the Danish Refugee Council and a humanitarian agency, Support to Life.

She had previously worked in India, Israel and occupied Palestine, her family said, and had been living and working in France in order to learn the language prior to working in Africa.

“The common thread of Kayla’s life has been her quiet leadership and strong desire to serve others,” her family said.

When asked what kept her going in her mission, she said: “I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine, if this is how you are revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you.”

Mueller is believed to have been taken hostage by Islamic State (Isis) militants on 4 August 2013, after travelling to the war-torn city of Aleppo, in Syria’s northwest corner.

Since then, in an effort to protect their daughter, Mueller’s parents had withheld her name. Some media reports suggested Isis could have attempted to extort the Mueller family in August 2014, when the group demanded $6.6m for the return of a 26-year-old American aid worker. While a description appeared to match that of Mueller, there was no confirmation.

On Friday, in a statement circulated on social media, Isis supporters claimed she was killed by a Jordanian air strike as the group held her hostage in an encampment in Raqqa, Syria. Several pictures of a damaged building complex were included in the statement which claimed to show the aftermath of the air strike, but the claim that Mueller had been killed could not be independently verified.

“After going to extraordinary efforts to keep Kayla’s name out of the media for so long, by securing the cooperation of journalists throughout the world, her name was released today,” Carl and Marsha Mueller said in a statement on Friday.

The Muellers said they were “concerned” that her identity had been released.

“Yet we are still hopeful that Kayla is alive,” they added, asking for Isis to contact them privately.

“You told us that you treated Kayla as your guest. As your guest her safety and wellbeing remains your responsibility.”