Meet Our Client Roukaya, a Human Rights Activist from Mauritania

Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA- Mauritania)

Today we want to share one of our most inspirational stories. In 2014, our client Roukaya (name changed) came to the United States from Mauritania as an asylum seeker. In his home country, he was part of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement, or IRA-Mauritania, a major anti-slavery human rights group. Social workers at US Together played a large role in his transition into life in the United States; they connected him with a lawyer and introduced him to government healthcare services. During the COVID-19 outbreak, he says that US Together guided him to important community resources like his local food pantry, which was greatly appreciated by his family.

Roukaya described feeling welcome upon his arrival to America, saying that compared to Mauritania, he felt freer and allowed more rights. In the past few weeks, Roukaya has been following stories of ongoing George Floyd protests in Columbus and across the nation. With his background as a human rights activist, he explained that it upsets him to see these issues still existing in the United States, especially because human rights injustices were major reasons for originally leaving his home country.

It was a pleasure speaking to our client and hearing his opinion on this important topic inspires a push to continue discussions on issues involving race and equality in our communities.