Barke with her sisters Sharifa, far left, and Nuru, middle.
“Previously when we would go for registration we would be excluded because we were Pemba. I was born here, my mother was born here and so was her mother and my gret grandmother. I used to get really confused when people would refer to me as a Pemba and not a Kenyan. I was born and raised here. It would really hurt my feelings when people would refer to me as a Pemba and not a Kenyan.”
Barke is a paralegal from the Pemba community working with HAKI Center as a paralegal to reduce Statelessness in her community. ; In Kenya, there are different groups of stateless persons such as the, Pemba, Galjael, Shona, as well as groups of individuals of Burundian, Congolese, Indian and Rwandan descent. Other groups that are at risk of statelessness are the Nubians and some people of Kenyan Somalis whose access for Kenyan identification documents is limited. The members of these communities “belong” to Kenya because of the existing and longstanding ties with the country however they do not have Kenyan citizenship.
The number of stateless persons in Kenya is not known. An estimate of 18,500 is being used following the registration of the Makonde in 2016.