I learn Hebrew from an asylum seeker from Darfur in an unconventional Elementary Hebrew course. The course is unconventional not only because we did not begin our class with aleph, bet, gimmel but because on Day 1 we learnt the Hebrew terms for asylum seeker, refugee, migrant worker and by Day 4 we were discussing racism.
Meeting MK and learning about his story shows me how ignorant and unaware I am of the lives of people like him. Take his name for example, the ongoing Arabisation of Darfur forced K to adopt the name M, which is more Arabic in character than his African name. We make it a point to call him K and not M. Nonetheless, K has adopted his dual identify for better or worse; he goes by the name MK on Facebook even.
We mostly discuss his life in Tel Aviv and the marginalisation of asylum seekers in Israel. On a normal day, K hears the word 'slave' used to refer to him at least twice a day. "It is not easy but it is better than my life in my home country. I would not know if I would be alive today if I was in Darfur," he says. K is part of an NGO that works for asylum seekers from Sudan. In Darfur though K does not have the freedom of association.
His narrative that juxtaposes life in Darfur versus life in Tel Aviv is very powerful. While I constantly wonder why come to Israel where you are not recognized as a refugee and have fewer rights than you should, he gives me reasons to believe that a country that does accept him is far better than a place where his life is in constant danger.
Racism, K says, is not restricted to colour and religion. Even the language you speak could attract racist comments. Arabic is the language of the educated class in Darfur, "if I speak the language spoken by my tribe, then I am looked down up on." K is fluent in Arabic, however making friends with Palestinians is more than sharing a common language. His friend N points out, "the Arabs are oppressing us in Darfur and here in Israel the Arabs are in a difficult situation. It is very strange for me to see this."
The class on racism ended with K asking me, have you faced racism in India? I felt miserable when I said, "I am a Hindu, and belong to the majority, so I do not face harsh racism." I certainly have witnessed racism (or casteism) in India; just never had to face it.
Meeting MK and learning about his story shows me how ignorant and unaware I am of the lives of people like him. Take his name for example, the ongoing Arabisation of Darfur forced K to adopt the name M, which is more Arabic in character than his African name. We make it a point to call him K and not M. Nonetheless, K has adopted his dual identify for better or worse; he goes by the name MK on Facebook even.
We mostly discuss his life in Tel Aviv and the marginalisation of asylum seekers in Israel. On a normal day, K hears the word 'slave' used to refer to him at least twice a day. "It is not easy but it is better than my life in my home country. I would not know if I would be alive today if I was in Darfur," he says. K is part of an NGO that works for asylum seekers from Sudan. In Darfur though K does not have the freedom of association.
His narrative that juxtaposes life in Darfur versus life in Tel Aviv is very powerful. While I constantly wonder why come to Israel where you are not recognized as a refugee and have fewer rights than you should, he gives me reasons to believe that a country that does accept him is far better than a place where his life is in constant danger.
Racism, K says, is not restricted to colour and religion. Even the language you speak could attract racist comments. Arabic is the language of the educated class in Darfur, "if I speak the language spoken by my tribe, then I am looked down up on." K is fluent in Arabic, however making friends with Palestinians is more than sharing a common language. His friend N points out, "the Arabs are oppressing us in Darfur and here in Israel the Arabs are in a difficult situation. It is very strange for me to see this."
The class on racism ended with K asking me, have you faced racism in India? I felt miserable when I said, "I am a Hindu, and belong to the majority, so I do not face harsh racism." I certainly have witnessed racism (or casteism) in India; just never had to face it.
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