Usumain Tukuny Baraka is a Sudanese activist and asylum seeker living in Israel.
17 Facts About Usumain Baraka
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Usumain Baraka 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.
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Usumain Baraka was born in Darfur, Sudan in the small village of Dirata, close to the city of Geneina.
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Usumain Baraka submitted an asylum application in 2013, and received humanitarian temporary residency status.
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Usumain Baraka was murdered inside his own home by violent militias on January 16,2021.
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Usumain Baraka received his high school diploma from Yemin Orde, a Jewish boarding school for at-risk and immigrant youth near Haifa, Israel.
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Usumain Baraka graduated from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in Government and Diplomacy Relations.
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Usumain 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.
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Usumain 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.
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Usumain Baraka is a Co-Founder of the African Students Organization in Israel.
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Usumain Baraka makes frequent appearances on Israeli television, radio, and print media, where he represents the asylum-seeking community.
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Usumain Baraka appeared on Kan 11 February 2020 following Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting in Uganda with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
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Usumain Baraka appeared on 103fm and in Haaretz in August 2020 following an announcement that Israel and Sudan were undergoing peace talks.
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Usumain Baraka was featured on an episode of the Israeli television series 'Slicha al hashe'ela' or Excuse the Question, which discussed African asylum seekers in Israel.
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Usumain Baraka 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.
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On June 28,2017, Usumain Baraka spoke to the Israeli Knesset on behalf of asylum seekers in Israel.
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Usumain Baraka both spoke to other journalists and authored an op-ed on the subject, published in Israel's Haaretz newspaper.