Yusra Moshtat is from Baghdad, Iraq. She fled the Gulf War in the 1990s and came to Sweden. This blog tells her astonishing story and how she ended up working with new immigrants, helping them to integrate through exploring Swedish nature.
Yusra arrived in Gothenburg, a city on the West coast of Sweden, in the summer of 1994. She had left a good job, the safety of her home, and her family and friends, trying to save the life of her firstborn son Mimo, who was seriously injured during the Gulf War. The hospital where Yusra was recovering after giving birth to Mimo was bombed. She fled in terror, carrying her new-born baby to a nearby bomb shelter. The bomb shelter was soon also struck by bombs, and of nearly 400 people taking refuge within its walls, only half survived. Mimo was only a week old at that time and sustained severe brain damage in the attacks.