About Us

Mission

Through education, empowerment, and dialogue, PARARA USA aims to foster connectivity among Bari people in the USA in an effort to facilitate their integration into the American society with dignity, and as responsible, productive members.

Parara USA is a non-profit organization incorporated in Minnesota, USA in 2006 and has a federal tax-exempt 501(C) (3) status [83-0463872].

Who are Bari People?

The Bari people are people of the Bari ethnic group who live in the newly current Country of South Sudan (Africa). In the early 2000s due to the tragic civil wars of the Sudan (1955-1973, and 1983-2005), many Bari people immigrated to various countries world wide, but most to the USA and Canada. In the USA, the Bari people are currently dispersed across various cities, for example in Minneapolis (Minnesota), San Diego (California), Portland (Maine), Des Moines (Iowa), Nashville (Tennessee) and others.

The Bari people are facing many challenges in diaspora and in South Sudan. These challenges are similar to what many American immigrants have faced in the past and continue to face today such as:

  • adapting and integrating into the American society
  • educational opportunities
  • job opportunities
  • health and information
  • and preserving cultural heritage

The majority Bari people live near Juba in South Sudan. They speak an Eastern Sudanic language of the Nilo-Saharan language family known as “Bari”. They live in small villages scattered across the hot, dry, flat countryside in the Nile valley. Traditionally their staple crop is millet, and they also keep cattle. Their culture and language are shared by many other small populations in the region, the most important of these being the Karkwa, Mondari (Mandari, Mundari), Kuku, Fajulu (Pöjulu), Nyangbara, and Nyepu (Nyepo). Read more here [Britannica.com, 1/1/15, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/53253/Bari].

 

What We Do

Our mission is connecting the Bari people in the USA and helping them achieve their goals as responsible and productive members of the American society.

Parara USA endeavor to:

Community Development

  1. Facilitate the integration, and render assistance (such as interpretation and translation of documents, immigration, and citizenship classes) to all people (Bari persons and non-Bari) who legally entered USA (50 States and Territories), to the extent that such persons can smoothly adjust to the American society way of life with dignity, and in turn contribute to the community
  2. Provide ways and means of strengthening family relationships through interfamily and community support.
  3. Use education, empowerment, dialogue, and integration of positive values to promote sociocultural connectivity among the Bari people (especially the youth) including those in the motherland, in an effort to preserve and enrich Bari cultural values and language, and other traditions that are effective in shaping the Bari into peaceful responsible and productive citizens.
  4. Foster connectivity between the Bari people and other communities through a series of dialogue, educational workshops, panel discussions, cultural and heritage activities.
  5. Render support and assistance to individuals or community programs that positively impact humanity, promote better livelihood and help individuals/communities access local, county, state and federal resources, including programs pertaining to studies, promotion of arts, science, and public health.
  6. Render emergency assistance in cases of devastation of a community member or a household member, by creation of a devoted emergency fund through contributions, donations, and fund raising.

Education and Youth

  1. Use education, empowerment, dialogue, and integration of positive values to promote sociocultural connectivity among the Bari people (especially the youth) including those in the motherland, in an effort to preserve and enrich Bari cultural values and language, and other traditions that are effective in shaping the Bari into peaceful responsible and productive citizens.
  2. Scholarships are provided to two qualified Bari youth annually to help with expenses and promote higher education.

Rural Development in South Sudan

  1. Support rural development programs aiming to improve the quality of life for people in South Sudan.