U.S. aid worker was undeterred by risks
Friends say the American woman taken hostage by Islamic State militants was determined to get to Syria and learned Arabic so she could perform aid work and advocate for causes in the Middle East.
Kayla Mueller, 26, travelled to the Palestinian territories, Israel and other countries before deciding a couple of years ago that it was her calling to help the people of Syria, friends said. She moved to an area in Turkey near the border, and about eight months later, she was captured in Syria by Islamic State militants. Her death was confirmed this week by her family and U.S. government.
Friends say Mueller often talked about going to Syria after she graduated Northern Arizona University, and they said she was determined to get there, despite the risks.
“She had determined over many years of serious internal questioning that the best way to deal with the suffering in the world was to face it directly, and to address it on the ground,” said Leslie Alamer, who attended university with Mueller.
Mueller’s trip from Turkey into Syria in August 2013 was a dangerous move given the bloodshed that has gripped the country under the regime of embattled President Bashar Assad. Nearly half of Syria’s population has been displaced, and some 200,000 people have died in the fighting and crossfire.
What happened to Mueller in the year and a half she spent in captivity and how she died remained unclear Thursday. The U.S. Embassy in Syria is closed, and the CIA has no permanent presence on the ground.
U.S. President Barack Obama said a military operation last summer to recover Mueller and others failed when rescuers arrived “a day or two” after the group had been moved.
Mueller’s former roommate at Northern Arizona University, Emily Schick, said Wednesday that she had no doubt that Mueller was doing what she was called to in life.
“Kayla did not see herself as above or separate from the suffering around her,” she said.
In Mueller’s hometown of Prescott, Arizona, her family encouraged people to donate to organizations Mueller would have supported, saying big displays of support wouldn’t mesh with her humble nature.