Kayla Mueller was an aid worker from a small town in Arizona, who, from a young age had a single-minded determination to help others.
The 26-year-old was taken prisoner in Aleppo, Syria, on 4 August 2013, after leaving a Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital.
She was thought to be Islamic State's last remaining American hostage.
Other aid workers kidnapped at the same time are thought to have been released, but according to a CBS report last year, IS was demanding a $6.6m (£4.3m) ransom to set her free.
Ms Mueller had been helping Syrian refugees on the Turkish border since December 2012, working with aid agencies including Support to Life and the Danish Refugee Council.
In 2013, she described the desperate situation in a refugee camp, including how she helped reunite a six-year-old with his relative after the camp was bombed.
"For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal," she told Prescott's Daily Courier.
"(I will not let this be) something we just accept."
"This story is not rare in Syria," she added. "This is the reality for Syrians two and a half years on.
"When Syrians hear I'm an American, they ask, 'Where is the world?' All I can do is cry with them, because I don't know."
Ms Mueller - from Prescott, 100 miles north of Phoenix - had also campaigned on behalf of genocide victims and volunteered for three years with the Save Darfur Coalition in her late teens.
A 2007 interview for the Daily Courier describes how she called and wrote to members of the US Congress, and took part in silent walks to raise awareness.
"I love cultures and language and learning about people's cultures," she told the paper as she prepared to start university in Flagstaff.
After graduating in 2009, she spent around a year living and working with humanitarian aid groups in northern India, Israel and Palestine.
Heading back to Arizona in 2011, she worked at an AIDS clinic and volunteered at a women's shelter at night.
The US government and Ms Mueller's family had kept her name secret until IS claimed she had been killed, fearing any publicity would put her in more danger.
Her parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, said in a statement earlier this month: "Kayla found this (aid) work heart-breaking but compelling; she is extremely devoted to the people of Syria.
"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'."
She is the fourth American to die while being held by IS.
The others, journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig, were beheaded by the group.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Kayla Mueller: Aid Worker Who Helped Syrians
Dengan url
http://plumpangraya.blogspot.com/2015/02/kayla-mueller-aid-worker-who-helped.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Kayla Mueller: Aid Worker Who Helped Syrians
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Kayla Mueller: Aid Worker Who Helped Syrians
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar