A member of the Fur people, he is from the Marrah Mountains in Central Darfur. As a boy, he walked three days to reach his middle school, and five days to reach his high school. He then attended medical school at the University of Khartoum, graduating in 1976. The first physician from his area, he later constructed a medical network throughout Darfur to report rapes and other violence. He became a medical professor at Darfur's Al Fashir University and acted as director of the Amel Center for the Treatment &amp; Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Darfur during the War in Darfur.