Bahia was born into a nomadic family in 1960 near Auserd, located in the Rio de Oro southern region of, what was then, the Spanish Sahara.

His mother gave him his first classes, acting as teacher until he joined the first schools made by the Spanish authorities, an experience he later portrayed in his book "La maestra que me enseñó en una tabla de madera" (The Teacher Taught Me on a Wooden Board).

[3] In 2001 he started the blog "Poemario por un Sáhara Libre" (Poems by a Free Sahara) as a space for social, political and cultural news about the Sahrawi people.

In 2007, the Alcalá de Henares University published his first individual book of poems, entitled "Versos refugiados" (Refugee Verses).

[7] In 2012, the Arabic culture specialized editorial CantArabia published "El Sueño de Volver" (The Dream of Returning), in which Awah remembers his life and experiences in the then Spanish Sahara.