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JULIAN B. KIGANDA is an artist, designer, speaker and writer born in Uganda with mixed Rwandese heritage raised in America. In her blog she writes her background  has colored the lens through which she lives her life and experiences the world.

She worked also as a community organizer with African Diaspora for Change, I have chaired star-studded events and led critical community dialogues, while developing culturally-relevant programming. Juliane has listed Asmara Sium, Executive Director of the African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation (AIRF) with origins in Eritrea , amongst the 30 Most Notable Africans of 2013 on her blog “Bold and Fearless”.

Country of Origin: ERITREA

What: More often than not, some of the most notable people we know are unsung heroes who quietly, but passionately go about their work—rarely seeking publicity unless it will somehow help the people they serve or advance the mission they are committed to.

Asmara Sium is one of those unsung heroes. Don’t let her friendly smile fool you, as the Executive Director of the African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation (AIRF), the fire she has for empowering African youth is what drives her to often work 60-80 hour weeks, while juggling the demands of being a wife and mother of two young children. Based in the Washington, DC area, AIRF was founded in 2000 by Mama Wanjiru Kamau to help African immigrants transition into American society.

Why I’m Inspired: From hosting programs like the Catching Up Program in local area public schools to enable African immigrant youth to embrace their culture while assimilating in an environment that isn’t always welcoming, to hosting an annual conference to engage these same youth in dialogue, education and a celebration of their African heritage, Sium has carried the torch passed on by Mama Kamau with a grace and selflessness that is rare.

In a world that puts shameless self-promotion above service to humanity, her sincerity and focus on the mission of empowering African immigrant youth is refreshing. Having faced many of the cultural challenges herself that these youth are facing, Sium states in this article:

“The kids are trying to figure out how to be American… We see in these kids so much more than I think they do at times and it’s our job to say, ‘here are the tools,’ and they rise to the occasion. With some extra support, these kids can excel beyond any of our expectations.”

Visit Julian’s blog here Bold and Fearless

[jqdial code=”dial6b0ca14d1a”] [/jqdial]  This is the story of Philmon Razena, a 25-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker. Like the other tens of thousands of others, Philmon lives under constant threat of being jailed or deported by the Israeli authorities, while also being closely monitored by the Eritrean government, which terrifies Eritreans whether they are in Israel or elsewhere. Over the past month, asylum seekers from different countries take matters into their own hands, from civil disobedience to silent demonstrations on the streets of Tel Aviv, and culminating in an to protest Israel’s asylum policies. This is their story, too.

By Philmon Razena

On Saturday December 20, the Israeli media reported on a “violent altercation between Eritreans” in Kibbutz Kinneret, as well as claims that the Eritrean government is attempting to launder money out of Israel. These reports left many Israelis confused, so it is time to clarify things. The Eritrean Ambassador, Tesfamariam Tekeste, had arranged a conference in Israel and organized for the transportation of 600 members of the Eritrean community to Kinneret. Approximately 60 other people attended, including myself.

For us, this was to be a rare opportunity to ask the ambassador directly about the human rights situation in Eritrea and to ask about our families there. I went because my father has been in jail for several months. He was imprisoned because my public opposition to the regime. I haven’t heard from him since he was jailed.

The ambassador knew exactly who we were. The Eritrean government follows Eritrean dissidents in Israel who call for democracy. It also occasionally publishes leaflets threatening to kidnap or kill us.

When we entered the hall, the ambassador told the audience that we were working for the Ethiopian government, an enemy state of Eritrea. He ordered them to attack us and left the room. Eleven of us were injured, including one woman. When we called the police, they initially came to our defense. But the ambassador told them that we were armed criminals and we were arrested.

Why did the ambassador choose to hold a conference at Kibbutz Kinneret? Why did he not hold it in the center of the country, close to the Eritrean community? The ambassador wanted to bring people away from the watchful eye of the broader Eritrean public in Israel as well as the regime’s opposition leaders.

During the conference, the ambassador explained to the audience how they could get around the law which bans asylum seekers in Israel from sending money overseas. He explained a series of measures whereby they can send money to their families through the Eritrean government bank accounts in Germany. This would involve paying very high commission to the government. He promised everyone that they would be able to buy homes. These were false promises. Most of the Eritrean public does not have this kind of money. Thus, nobody can buy a home, but the government will earn commission regardless. But false promises and corruption are nothing new in the Eritrean government, nor are human trafficking, forced labor, trafficking of illegal weapons or cultivating ties with terrorists.

The government terrifies Eritreans whether they are in Israel or elsewhere. Many communities in Israel are afraid to openly oppose the Eritrean regime because they fear it would put their families’ lives at risk, since they may be imprisoned like my father, or killed. Opposition to the regime comes at a very high price. I was once put in jail because I was politically active in college. So I fled Eritrea. Now my father is paying the price.

Some people are scared so they corporate with the government.There are few who believe its lies, but most do because they know that they are not protected in Israel. Every day, asylum seekers in Israel live in fear of being deported back to Eritrea because their asylum requests are not checked, nor are they recognized as refugees. There are people who believe that they might escape death or prison in Eritrea by cooperating with the government. Most of those who traveled to Kibbutz Kinneret didn’t do so because they dreamed of buying a house; they came out of desperation and fear.

It is desperation and fear that brought 30,000 people to Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square two days ago. This is why there have been demonstrations over the last few weeks, and why we are on strike. We are striking because 54,000 asylum seekers are living in Israel without basic security, under constant threat of jail or deportation and still trapped in the vicious circle of fear that we tried to escape from in the first place.

Philmon Razena is a 25-year-old asylum seeker from Eritrea. This article first appeared in Hebrew on Haokets.

Interior ministry announcement comes on the third day of a strike by African asylum seekers, with thousands gathering in Tel Aviv park to protest.

[jqdial code=”dialaa289e6129″] [/jqdial]
 As a strike by tens of thousands of African asylum seekers against Israel’s migration policies entered its third day on Tuesday, Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that dozens of Eritrean asylum seekers had left Israel voluntarily in recent weeks for Sweden.

The announcement did not specify the number of those who had left for Sweden. The majority were apparently women, many of whom had been victims of torture and human trafficking and who had been imprisoned in Israel for a long time.

Sweden agreed to take them in response to a special request by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and to include them in a resettlement plan, due to their special circumstances.

Tens of thousands of migrants stayed away from work Tuesday, as the strike went into its third day. Many of them gathered at Levinsky Park, in south Tel Aviv, to discuss their future action. Among the moves considered were marching toward Jerusalem, Saharonim prison and the Holot detention center in the Negev.

The protest leaders have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday afternoon, during which they are expected to announce what further steps will be taken.

The Interior Ministry said the migrants left for Sweden in the context of a government incentive scheme and were granted $3,500 each upon departure. They are encouraged to leave Israel voluntarily and to promise not to return.

An attorney dealing with residence and migration issues criticized Sa’ar’s announcement. “Asylum seekers who were sent to Sweden did not leave as part of the Ministry’s voluntary departure process, but as part of the efforts of the UNHCR to resettle people who qualify as refugees,” said Oded Feller, who heads the division dealing with residence status and migration in the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

”It’s not clear what the Interior Ministry take pride in. Sweden only resettles people with refugee status who are not afforded adequate protection in countries they find themselves in. The fact that Sweden took in 50 refugees proves yet again that Israel is the only country that doesn’t recognize Eritrean asylum seekers as refugees, and that other countries feel that Israel is not fulfilling its obligations under the Refugee Convention,” Feller said.

Sa’ar chose to make his announcement in the midst of the strike, despite the transferral to Sweden having occurred a few weeks ago. The announcement stated that “several dozen infiltrators from Eritrea have left for Sweden over the past few weeks, as part of a process of voluntary departure. This is the first time infiltrators were sent to Sweden. Their departure was coordinated with the Swedish government after an agreement between Interior Minister Sa’ar and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The infiltrators left voluntarily with the assistance of the Population and Immigration Authority, getting $3,500 each.”
The ministry spokesman said that in 2013, 2,612 migrants from Africa left Israel as part of this voluntary departure process. Of those, 1,955 were from Eritrea and Sudan.

The Swedish embassy declined to respond to queries by Haaretz. Nor was there a response from the UNHCR.

The three-day protest began Sunday, when tens of thousands of African migrants did not show up for work, disrupting the normal operation of many businesses, primarily restaurants, cafes, hotels, and cleaning services.

Later that day, the representative for the UNHCR in Israel published a rare press release, lambasting Israel’s policy on African migrants, and in particular the new amendments to the country’s anti-infiltration law.

The release, titled “Israel’s new laws and policies do not live up to the Spirit of the 1951 Refugee Convention,” called on Israel to consider alternatives to its current “warehousing” of migrants.

On Monday, more than 10,000 African migrants demonstrated in front of the American embassy near the Tel Aviv promenade. Thousands more gathered in front of the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the European Commission, as the embassies of Ethiopia, Great Britain, France, Canada, Sweden, Germany and Italy.

They called on the international community to exert pressure on the Israeli government to changes its asylum seeker policies, and recognize them as refugees. In addition, the protesters called on the government to stop arresting them and to release those who are imprisoned.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that, despite the events of the past two days, he is still committed to expelling the migrants. ”I’d like to make clear that protests and strikes won’t help,” Netanyahu said during a Likud faction meeting. ”As we were able to stem the illegal infiltration of our borders, we are steadfast in our commitment to evict those who entered before we closed the border … We aren’t talking about refugees with whom we deal according to international treaties; we are discussing illegal migrant workers, who will be brought to justice.”

Also on Monday, Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he was ”not very impressed with all the crying and complaining” by business owners whose employees were on strike. ”With all due respect to the restaurant and café owners in crisis, or those whose cleaning staff didn’t show up, this will not determine Israel’s national policy. On the contrary, let’s think about those Israelis who have lost their jobs [to migrant workers].”

MK Miri Regev (Likud), who heads the Knesset’s Interior and Environment Committee, is promoting an amendment to the National Insurance law that would grant benefits to discharged soldiers who are employed in the restaurant industry as waiters, kitchen hands, cleaning personnel and maintenance crews. Regev said the amendment seeks to make it easier for employers to find workers to replace African migrants. The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is scheduled to discuss her proposal this coming Sunday.

Three weeks ago, the government transferred 483 African migrants who had been imprisoned in Saharonim prison to Holot. Many of them participated in the recent protest march from Holot, and were returned to Saharonim for violating the terms of their residency. Last week, the Population and Immigration Authority began instructing other migrants from Eritrea and Sudan to report to the Holot facility in 30 days, or face imprisonment.

Holot residents are forbidden from working and must report for roll call three times a day, in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Tens of thousands of Africans have trekked through neighboring countries to reach Israel in recent years. Many migrants fled oppression at home, hoping for a better life in Israel, yet their influx sparked tensions with locals who blame them for rising crime and a change of the Jewish identity in some neighborhoods.

Crowds of African immigrants are demonstrating for a second day in Tel Aviv.

[jqdial code=”dial984e32ee39″] [/jqdial] The protesters, mostly Eritreans and Sudanese, marched on Sunday to protest against their treatment by the Israeli government.

Israel says they have arrived illegally and should return home.

Richard Galpin reports from the US embassy where many migrants have gathered in protest.

Read more: African migrants in Israel protest in Tel Aviv