Umra Omar

Umra Omar was born in Mombasa, Kenya, on June 15, 1983.[4] Umra and her sister spent their early childhood in Tchundwa, on Lamu Island, while her mother went to the United States to pursue higher education.[6][2] For the duration of her primary school years, Umra studied in Nairobi. When she was 17, she was admitted into the UWC Atlantic College in Wales.[7]

After completing the International Baccalaureate program at Atlantic College,[8] Umra was awarded a scholarship to attend Oberlin College in Ohio.[9] She completed her first degree in neuroscience and psychology, and pursued her master's degree in social justice: intercultural relations at the World Learning Institute in Vermont.[9]

After completing schooling, Umra worked in Washington DC and lived briefly in New York. Between 2012-2014, she worked back and forth between her home country and New York City.[6]

In 2010, Umra moved back to Nairobi to work with the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (OSIEA) for a few years before going back to the US.[10] At OSIEA, she worked as the health and rights program assistant with where she was an editor and writer on various topics on health and social rights including sexual equality,[11] arts and culture,[12] harm reduction services for sex workers[13] and drug users,[11] gender and sexual rights including of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) vulnerable communities, social justice,[14] among many others.[15]

She was a participant various global and national conferences and workshops on behalf of OSIEA including CREA's Global Sexuality, Gender and Rights Institute in 2011,[16] an international, feminist, human rights organization which promotes and advances women’s human rights and sexual rights of all people by strengthening feminist leadership, organizations and movements.[17] She also participated in the 2nd Harm reduction conference in Mauritius where she presented on empowering female drug users and sex workers in Malindi, Kenya.[18]

In 2014, Umra went vacation to visit her family in Lamu, Kenya.[6] She was introduced to a French mobile medical project that had become defunct when Al-Shabaab increased their attacks in Lamu County, and along with the nurse, Harrison Kalu, revived what would later become Safari Doctors.[19]

In 2016, Safari Doctors conducted its very first medical sail.[4] Currently, Safari Doctors reaches hundreds of patients a month, primarily women and children,[20] and runs a Youth Health Ambassador program that aims to facilitate youth leadership. Because of the organization's work, Umra Omar was named a Top 10 CNN Hero 2016.[5] The following year, she was named the UN in Kenya Person of the Year.[21]

Umra Omar is married and has two young children.[1] In 2016 Umra founded a small private pre-school to serve families who live on the island.[22]

• Umra Omar, Top 10 CNN Hero 2016[1]
• Safari Doctors and Umra Omar, UN In Kenya Person of the Year 2017[21]
• Safari Doctors, African Leaders 4 Change Award 2017[23]
• Umra Omar, Top 40 Under 40 in Kenya 2017[24]
• OkayAfrica's 100 Women 2017[9]
• WEF Young Global Leader 2019