Usumain Baraka

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Usumain Tukuny Baraka
Born (1994-11-15) 15 November 1994 (age 29)
Darfur, Sudan
EducationInterdisciplinary Center Herzliya
Occupation(s)Activist for international and Israeli Darfuri community

Usumain Tukuny Baraka is a Sudanese activist and asylum seeker living in Israel. He is a leader of Israel's asylum-seeking community and the first Darfuri refugee to graduate from a Hebrew-language program in an Israeli university.

Biography

Usumain Baraka was born in Darfur, Sudan.[1][2] in the small village of Dirata,[3] close to the city of Geneina. He is a member of the Masalit people. At age 9, the Darfur genocide came to his village, and Janjaweed militants killed his father—the leader of his village—and brother.[1][4] Baraka fled on foot through the jungle and found shelter in a refugee camp in Chad with his mother and sisters.[1][5]

After three years in the refugee camp, Baraka left in search of a normal life and education,[6] He traveled through Libya and Egypt.[1][7] In Egypt, he saw a television program on the history of the Jewish people and the Holocaust.[1] In 2008, he paid Bedouin smugglers to take him across the desert into Israel.[8][9] Upon reaching Israel, he had no shoes. The first Israeli soldier he encountered took off his own shoes and socks and gave them to Baraka.[10]

Baraka submitted an asylum application in 2013,[11][12] and received humanitarian temporary residency status.[13]

Education and national service

Baraka received his high school diploma from Yemin Orde,[1] a Jewish[14] boarding school for at-risk and immigrant youth near Haifa, Israel. After completing high school, Baraka hoped to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces, but was prevented due to his lack of Israeli citizenship.[14] Instead, he completed a year and a half of volunteer service.[15] He frequently returns to Yemin Orde to give inspirational talks to current students.[16]

Baraka graduated from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in Government and Diplomacy Relations.[14] After completing his bachelor's degree, he enrolled in a Master's program[17] in Public Policy, also at the IDC[17][18] and graduated in summer 2020.[19] During his first degree he was a volunteer member of the IDC student union.[20] Baraka completed his studies in Hebrew, one of five languages he speaks, and is the first refugee in Israel to gain a master's degree in Hebrew.[13]

Political activism

Baraka is a Co-Founder of the African Students Organization in Israel. From 2016 to 2019 he served as the organisation's Education Director, and took over as the CEO in January 2019.[21] In 2019 he gave a keynote address at the organization's inaugural annual conference.[22]

Baraka makes frequent appearances on Israeli television, radio, and print media, where he represents the asylum-seeking community. He appeared on Kan 11 February 2020[23] following Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting in Uganda with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.[24] He appeared on 103fm and in Haaretz in August 2020[25][26] following an announcement that Israel and Sudan were undergoing peace talks.[27] He was also featured on an episode of the Israeli television series 'Slicha al hashe'ela' or Excuse the Question, which discussed African asylum seekers in Israel.[28] In April 2020, he was the subject of a Kan 11 mini-documentary, which described his activism to help fellow asylum seekers in Israel during the Coronavirus.[29]

Baraka also gives tours and lectures to groups in English and Hebrew on the topic of asylum seekers in Israel, the Darfur genocide, and South Tel Aviv.[20] He also runs a Hebrew language school for fellow asylum seekers in Israel, through which he teaches Hebrew to dozens of asylum seekers from Darfur and elsewhere.[13]

On June 28, 2017 Baraka spoke to the Israeli Knesset on behalf of asylum seekers in Israel[30]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "These African asylum seekers came to Israel alone as kids. Now they could face deportation: 'Israel is part of who I am'". Haaretz.com.
  2. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo1McsvLug
  3. ^ "Africans Seeking Refuge in the Promised Land". JISS. March 27, 2018.
  4. ^ "Sudanese nationals in Israel fear deportation after peace deal". ynetnews. October 27, 2020.
  5. ^ "Sudanese Nationals in Israel Fear Deportation after Peace Deal". The Media Line. October 26, 2020.
  6. ^ "Sudanese in Israel fear being returned after normalisation". au.finance.yahoo.com.
  7. ^ "Sudanese Nationals in Israel Fear Deportation after Peace Deal". Jewish Journal. October 27, 2020.
  8. ^ https://momentmag.com/why-im-inviting-an-asylum-seeker-to-my-seder/,
  9. ^ "Real Steel: Usumain Baraka". November 26, 2016.
  10. ^ "Why I'm Inviting an Asylum Seeker to My Seder". March 22, 2018.
  11. ^ "Sudan deal plunges migrants in Israel into new uncertainty". Star Tribune.
  12. ^ "Sudan deal plunges migrants in Israel into new uncertainty". AP News.
  13. ^ a b c "Darfuri refugee dreams of building bridges between the states of Israel and Sudan". UNHCR.
  14. ^ a b c "Raised and schooled in Israel, these young Africans could be sent back to a country they do not know". Washington Post.
  15. ^ Green, Emma (January 30, 2018). "African Deportations Are Creating a Religious Controversy in Israel". The Atlantic.
  16. ^ "Graduate Day Offers Opportunities to Receive and to Give Back". ImpactIsrael. January 22, 2020.
  17. ^ a b "Darfuris in Israel Are Grateful, But Challenges Continue". HIAS.
  18. ^ Rosenblatt, Gary. "Despite Tough Treatment, African Migrants Praise Israel". jewishweek.timesofisrael.com.
  19. ^ LAVALLÉE, Guillaume. "Sudanese in Israel fear deportation after normalization, say they face danger". www.timesofisrael.com.
  20. ^ a b "אגודת הסטודנטים הבינתחומי הרצליה - IDC Student Union". www.facebook.com.
  21. ^ "Our Team xxx – African Students Organization in Israel".
  22. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etIvJxVqutM&t=130s
  23. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdiLuCYNgf0
  24. ^ "Netanyahu, Sudanese leader meet in Uganda, agree to start normalizing ties". Haaretz.com.
  25. ^ "103FM - גולן יוכפז וענת דוידוב - דרך השלום?". 103FM - האזנה לרדיו און ליין.
  26. ^ "גם אם יושג הסכם שלום, הדרך להשבת מבקשי המקלט לסודאן ארוכה ורצופה מכשולים". Haaretz הארץ.
  27. ^ Boxerman, Aaron; Newman, Marissa. "Sudan and Israel say talks underway for deal to normalize ties". www.timesofisrael.com.
  28. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6EXh-Hs3ts
  29. ^ "דוקותיים: אוסומעין" – via www.facebook.com.
  30. ^ "Protocol No. 250 From a meeting of the State Audit Committee Wednesday, Wednesday, June 28, 2017, 9:00 AM". Nevo.
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