Born to a Palestinian mother and a Chaldean father, post colonialism, occupation and human rights inform her research and activism.[3] Her notable academic research on North African-French diaspora- Re-writing Algerian Nationalism Through the Discourse of the Woman[4] was published by the University of California Santa Cruz Press in 2006. She spoke on “Growing up Iraqi in the United States”[5] at Boston College and won the Marjorie Rappaport[6] Hopwood award for her poem “Olive.” Her poems “Palestine Fig”,[7] first published in Arabesques, “Let the Land Choose”, “Warfire”, “The Dead Sea”, and “Blood, Sand, and Tears of a Young Boy” have been featured in various magazines,[8] anthologies and textbooks.[9] Inspired by Edward Said's work on Orientalism, postcolonial studies and Comparative Literature, Sarafa worked under his tutelage[10] at Columbia University[11] to obtain a master's degree.