When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson

The people who we fled with were mostly pastoralists. Kids like us and elders were transported on top of donkey carts, cows, camels or other animals. Our neighbors and friends in the village were fleeing, so we just fled with them. Goats and Soda A Onetime Nomad Reflects On The Beauty And Harshness Of Life In The Somali Desert Once I met Victoria and gave her the rough draft, she read it and convinced me to do it as a graphic novel since that's what she does. I always wanted to write a book about refugee lives and I had a rough draft of my personal story already written. How did that chance meeting turn into both of you working on this graphic novel? You met coauthor Jamieson while she was volunteering at Church World Service. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. We spoke to Mohamed after his virtual book discussion at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, an Ohio event that features comics artists, cartoonists and storytellers. for the group Church World Service and is the founder of Refugee Strong, a nonprofit that provides educational resources to refugee children in Kenya. Today, Mohamed, 31, lives in Lancaster, Pa., with his wife, five children and Hassan. And he had to make hard choices about whether to go to school – and move with Hassan to a new country. He made many efforts to reunite with their mom. As Mohamed grew older, he helped take care of Hassan, who has epilepsy and is nonverbal. At the camp, an elderly neighbor named Fatuma looked after the boys like a foster mom.

When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson