Education is so important to Babikir Harane that the soon-to-be University of Virginia graduate learned three different languages just to stay in school.
Harane will walk the Lawn on May 17 with a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies degree from 鶹ƽ School of Continuing and Professional Studies, after already earning an associate’s degree from Virginia Western Community College.
“I kind of run out of positive adjectives when I talk about him,” said Ann Marie Plunkett, a School of Continuing and Professional Studies professor who taught Harane in several courses. “He is so committed to achieving his goals and has overcome so many extreme experiences and extreme challenges.”
Babikir Harane sits in his “second home,” Sweet Donkey Coffee in Roanoke, where he says he completed most of his coursework for his Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies degree from 鶹ƽ School of Continuing and Professional Studies. (Photo by Kirsten Luce)
Getting an education has been a challenge for Harane. To go to college, he had to learn a new language: English. That was no problem. At 37, Harane has attended schools taught in French, Arabic and English, from elementary school through high school to college.
Harane was born in western Sudan, speaking his family’s native language, Masalit. Then war broke out.
“We fled the war zone, and we were in a different country, which was a French-speaking country, so I had to start my elementary school in French,” he recalled. “I was learning French at the same time I was going to school for first grade, second grade and third grade.”
Harane stands with his family, who finally joined him in the U.S. while he attended college. Standing with him are his wife Maimouna and son Abdulaziz, 2, daughter Bushra, 4, and son Moubarak, 10. (Photo by Kirsten Luce)
But war is not static. It goes where it will. And it went right toward Harane’s family.
“We moved to a refugee camp, and there were no French-language schools; it was an Arabic school,” he said. “I thought, ‘OK, I’ll put French aside’ and continued my education while learning to write and read in Arabic.”
Harane next came to the United States, settling in Roanoke. His wife and children, however, had to temporarily stay behind. Although he had a job, the path to U.S. success, he believed, ran through school. The only problem was that he didn’t know the language.
“I thought, ‘OK, I started out speaking Masalit, but successfully started school in French. Within two years, I was able to speak French, write French, read French,’” he said. “And then I did that with the Arabic language, and I did very well in Arabic. So I thought it was possible to do it with English as well.”
He was right. His English improved as he attended classes, spoke with classmates and faculty. When COVID-19 suddenly shut down classes and moved courses online, the pandemic gave him something that would make getting his college degree easier.
“I had never enrolled in a class online before, but I just went with the flow. I came to like online school because it supports my circumstances: I cannot do school without working, and I cannot fully do work without school,” he said.
