Naomi Baki
{{Short description|French-South Sudanese author and advocate}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Naomi Baki
| birth_place = Raga, Western Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan
| occupation = Author, advocate
| known_for = Advocacy against child trafficking, fund-raising for women's education
| notable_works = Je suis encore vivante (2013)
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1985}}
}}
Naomi Baki (born 1985) is a French and South Sudanese author and advocate for South Sudan. She is a native speaker of the Kresh language.
Confronting child trafficking
Welcomed in France as a refugee in 2011 with her daughter Caroline, she became a French citizen in 2015. She has released an autobiography in 2013 (in French), in which she describes her long and difficult journey from bondage to freedom.[https://www.amazon.ca/suis-encore-vivante-Naomi-Baki/dp/2204101079 Je suis encore vivante] (Paris, Le Cerf, 2013). The title's meaning in English is "Still Alive". This book, reviewed in English by scholar Sebastien Fath,"[http://frenchwindows.hautetfort.com/archive/2013/10/06/temp-3f3eedb57d47905b2a2a5475c5e23076-5189985.html An amazing South Sudan refugee's testimony published in France]" (10th of June, 2013) has received a wide media coverage, including French TV France 3Interview on France 3 Channel, Picardie [http://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/picardie/2013/10/06/soissons-02-c-est-l-histoire-d-une-refugiee-du-sud-soudan-reduite-en-esclavage-332665.html (6 October 2013)] and daily La Croix newspaper.Portrait of Naomi Baki in french Newspaper La Croix, [http://www.la-croix.com/Actualite/Monde/Du-Soudan-a-la-France-le-long-calvaire-de-Naomi-Baki-2013-10-15-1042520/ "Du Soudan à la France, le long calvaire de Naomi Baki" (La Croix, 15 October 2013)].
As a motivational speaker, she has been invited in many schools, book fairs and churches to give her testimony.
She has also started to travel abroad, including in HungarySee this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBURfaiijI0 2016 video] in which Naomi Baki shares her testimony in English (translated in Hungarian) and in the United States (Texas), where she is getting known as an advocate against child trafficking.See [http://naomibaki.com/ Naomi Baki's web page]
Naomi also wrote a book which carried the message of not being indifferent to other people. Her book "I am still alive" is based on the life of a young Sudanese girl.[https://www.editionsducerf.fr/librairie/livre/6935/je-suis-encore-vivante I am still alive]
Fund raising for South Sudan
She has been also actively involved in fund-raising events for women's education in Wau, South Sudan (collaborating with the Episcopal Church of South Sudan). These initiatives have been recorded and praised in the Wau Diocese Journal (South Sudan).See for example this report available on the Anglican Website of Wau Diocese, Easter 2016: "[http://wau.anglican.org/index.php?PageID=naominews Third fund-raising event in France for Wau ECSS Educational Program]"
Not shy to speak about her Christian faith, she has been interviewed by the French Protestant website Regardsprotestants in May 2016, stating that being a refugee is not an identity. It is something transitional.Naomi Baki, "Being a Refugee..." 30 May 2016, interview published in French by [http://regardsprotestants.com/francophonie/etre-refugie-nest-pas-une-identite-cest-un-passage/ Regardsprotestants.com]
Publications
As a self biography, she published the book Je suis encore vivante: Dix ans d'errance du Soudan à l'Europe.[https://www.editionsducerf.fr/librairie/livre/6935/je-suis-encore-vivante I am still alive]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921045406/https://www.editionsducerf.fr/librairie/livre/6935/je-suis-encore-vivante|date=2015-09-21}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baki, Naomi}}
Category:People from Western Bahr el Ghazal
Category:South Sudanese refugees