Usumain Tukuny Baraka | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 November 1994 |
| Education | Interdisciplinary 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.
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]
In December 2020, Baraka's brother Sayid Ismael Baraka, who had received American citizenship after being resettled there as a refugee, traveled to El-Geneina, Sudan, to visit family. [14] He was murdered inside his own home by violent militias on January 16, 2021. [15]
Baraka received his high school diploma from Yemin Orde, [1] a Jewish [16] 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. [16] Instead, he completed a year and a half of volunteer service. [17] He frequently returns to Yemin Orde to give inspirational talks to current students. [18]
Baraka graduated from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in Government and Diplomacy Relations. [16] After completing his bachelor's degree, he enrolled in a Master's program [19] in Public Policy, also at the IDC [19] [20] and graduated in summer 2020. [21] During his first degree he was a volunteer member of the IDC student union. [22] 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]
Baraka co-authored the paper "‘She Died While Missing Us’: Experiences of Family Separation Among African Refugees in Israel" along with Dr. Hadas Yaron Mesgena, published in the book Forced Migration and Separated Families: Everyday Insecurities and Transnational Strategies . [23]
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. [24] In 2019 he gave a keynote address at the organization's inaugural annual conference. [25]
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 [26] following Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting in Uganda with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. [27] He appeared on 103fm and in Haaretz in August 2020 [28] [29] following an announcement that Israel and Sudan were undergoing peace talks. [30] 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. [31] 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 pandemic. [32]
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. [22] 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. [33]
Following his brother's murder in 2021, Baraka spoke out about the dangers presented by Sudan's interim government, run by perpetrators of the genocide in 2003. [34] He both spoke to other journalists and authored an op-ed on the subject, published in Israel's Haaretz newspaper. [35]